Lead concentrations in the hair of some Saudi Arabian children : A follow‐up study

Abstract

Hair-Pb concentrations in 200 school boys from the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, aged 6-8 years in 1984, were first measured five years ago in 1984, as part of a program to evaluate the environmental impact of the gigantic developmental activities started a decade ago and now reaching their peaks in this Kingdom. After a period of five years, 93 of the same boys could be traced and were followed up in 1989 to see the effect of the intervening period. An interesting result emerged : the mean hair-Pb concentration actually decreased from the 1984-value of 8.88 ppm ( n = 93 ) to 7.30 ppm in 1989. This decrease can be attributed to a concurrent reduction in the lead content of gasoline used in Jeddah from 0.84 g per litre in 1984 to 0.60 g per litre in 1989 , indicating a possible correlation between the hair-Pb and the gasoline-Pb levels.