Quantitative modeling of lead exposure from glazed ceramic pottery in childhood lead poisoning cases

Abstract

The US EPA's Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic (IEUBK) Model is a physiologically-based, multicompartment model which simulates lead uptake, distribution within the body, and elimination in order to predict children's blood lead levels. This study used the IEUBK to quantify the relative importance of dietary lead exposure from ceramic bean pots (as opposed to other environmental sources including soil, water, air and indoor dust) in children from San Diego County, CA, the majority of whom had been identified (by actual measurements) to have elevated blood lead levels. The EUBK modeling suggested that dietary lead exposure from beans prepared in Mexican pottery may account for a major fraction of the blood lead burden in children (all of Hispanic ethnicity) whose families used such ceramic ware. The IEUBK model tended to be overpredictive of actual values for blood lead levels, but this was most probably due to uncertainties in the exposure variables in the risk assessment. The results of this model simulation emphasize the need, in a geographic and ethnic setting such as San Diego County, for specific interventions including education and outreach programs for those at risk.