Exposure to lead and other metals in children from Katowice district, Poland

Abstract

In all, 7% of the Polish children had blood lead levels exceeding 0.5 mumol/l, the concentration above which negative effects on mental development have been reported. However, the findings indicate a decrease in lead exposure during recent years among the Bytom children.

Lead Exposure and Hearing Effects in Children in Katowice, Poland

“…Previous biological monitoring surveys in the Katowice industrial region of Poland (Zejda and Grabecki, 1994;Osman et al, 1998) revealed lead exposure levels in school children similar to those reported to cause alternations in auditory functions. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate if hearing impairments from lead exposure do occur in children in the Katowice region.…”

“…Second, a peak in blood lead at about 2 years of age has been observed (Baghurst et al, 1992). It should also be noted that the lead pollution in the Katowice area has decreased, resulting in a trend of decreasing blood lead levels (Osman et al, 1998). In fact, the average blood lead concentration in the current study group was only about half of that obtained 1 to 3 years earlier, and the fraction of children with blood lead above 150 g/L (0.72 mol/L) was one-fourth that of the studies used for the selection of the children.…”

“…The subjects were selected from the child cohort of the Katowice Lead Monitoring Programme (Zejda and Grabecki, 1994;Zejda et al, 1997) and from the town of Bytom (Osman et al, 1998). The selection was performed according to blood lead concentrations determined 1 to 3 years before the present study, and children with the highest and lowest levels, respectively, were invited by letter to participate in the study.…”

“…The samples were transported and stored refrigerated (#4°C) until analysis. Lead in blood was determined at the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Sweden, using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and employing quality control, as described in Osman et al (1998). The detection limit (3;SD for reagent blanks) was 0.7 g/L.…”

Lead Assessment in Biological Samples of Children with Different Gastrointestinal Disorders

“…In humans, particularly children, low dietary intakes of iron, zinc, and calcium have been associated with increased BLLs [36,37]. Lead that is swallowed at fasting is absorbed to a high level as compared to the condition with ingested food.…”