Associations between soil lead and childhood blood lead in urban New Orleans and rural Lafourche Parish of Louisiana.

Mielke, Howard W.; Dugas, D; Mielke, Paul W.; Smith, K. Sabina; Gonzales, Chris

doi:10.1289/ehp.97105950

Cited by 148 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Similar results were found when comparing New Orleans, Louisiana with smaller towns (13). Mielke et al (15) calculated estimates based on average daily vehicle traffic (ADVT) within 1-mile diameter areas within city cores. When the annual metric tons of lead emitted by New Orleans traffic (ADVT = 95,000) was compared to that for Thibodaux, Louisiana (ADVT = 10,000), New Orleans was found to be more than 10 times higher (5.15 metric tons) than Thibodaux (0.45 metric tons).…”

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confidence: 53%

Soil is an important pathway of human lead exposure.

Mielke

Reagan

1998

Environ Health Perspect

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340

166

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This review shows the equal or greater importance of leaded gasoline-contaminated dust compared to lead-based paint to the child lead problem, and that soil lead, resulting from leaded gasoline and pulverized lead-based paint, is at least or more important than lead-based paint (intact and not pulverized) as a pathway of human lead exposure. Because lead-based paint is a high-dose source, the biologically relevant dosage is similar to lead in soil. Both lead-based paint and soil lead are associated with severe lead poisoning. Leaded gasoline and lead in food, but not lead-based paint, are strongly associated with population blood lead levels in both young children and adults. Soil lead and house dust, but not lead-based paint, are associated with population blood lead levels in children. Most soil lead and house dust are associated with leaded gasoline. Lead-based paint dust is associated with cases of renovation of either exterior or interior environments in which the paint was pulverized. Based upon the limited data to date, abatement of soil lead is more effective than abatement of lead-based paint in reducing blood lead levels of young children. About equal numbers of children under 7 years of age are exposed to soil lead and lead-based paint. Seasonality studies point to soil lead as the main source of population blood lead levels. Soil lead is a greater risk factor than lead-based paint to children engaged in hand-to-mouth and pica behavior. In summary, soil lead is important for addressing the population of children at risk of lead poisoning. When soil lead is acknowledged by regulators and the public health community as an important pathway of human lead exposure, then more effective opportunities for improving primary lead prevention can become a reality. Environ Health Perspect 106(Suppl 1):217-229 (1998). http.//ehpnetl.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1998/Suppl-1/21 7-229mielke/abstract.html

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confidence: 53%

Soil is an important pathway of human lead exposure.

Mielke

Reagan

1998

Environ Health Perspect

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340

166

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“…Dust is now recognized as the major contributor to blood lead. In urban areas, dust is derived mainly from lead paint Jacobs et al 2002;Lanphear et al 1999Lanphear et al , 2000Lanphear et al , 2002 and from former use of leaded gasoline (Mielke et al 1997(Mielke et al , 1999. In communities with lead activities, the most obvious source of the dust was from mining or smelting processes Gulson et al , 1996aGulson et al , 1996bHilts 2003;Landrigan et al 1975;von Lindern et al 2003avon Lindern et al , 2003b.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of sources of lead in children in a primary zinc-lead smelter environment.

Gulson

Mizon

Davis

et al. 2004

Environ Health Perspect

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We compared high-precision lead isotopic ratios in deciduous teeth and environmental samples to evaluate sources of lead in 10 children from six houses in a primary zinc-lead smelter community at North Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. Teeth were sectioned to allow identification of lead exposure in utero and in early childhood. Blood lead levels in the children ranged from 10 to 42 micro g/dL and remained elevated for a number of years. For most children, only a small contribution to tooth lead can be attributed to gasoline and paint sources. In one child with a blood lead concentration of 19.7 microg/dL, paint could account for about 45% of lead in her blood. Comparison of isotopic ratios of tooth lead levels with those from vacuum cleaner dust, dust-fall accumulation, surface wipes, ceiling (attic) dust, and an estimation of the smelter emissions indicates that from approximately 55 to 100% of lead could be derived from the smelter. For a blood sample from another child, > 90% of lead could be derived from the smelter. We found varying amounts of in utero-derived lead in the teeth. Despite the contaminated environment and high blood lead concentrations in the children, the levels of lead in the teeth are surprisingly low compared with those measured in children from other lead mining and smelting communities.

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“…High lead-containing soil levels were associated with high PbB, and low lead-containing soil levels were associated with low PbB. Risk factors for lead exposure were found to be low in Lafourche Parish, where there was no census tract in which median PbB was >9 μg/dL and no indication of a statistical association between median PbB and either median lead levels in soil or age of housing (Mielke et al 1997a). …”

Section: Potential For Human Exposurementioning

confidence: 87%