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Dear Lead Group,

Later this month I will be relocating from Cairns to Broken Hill in NSW. I have family living there with children, 7yo and 8yo and their rising lead levels concern me. I asked my GP to run some blood checks to have my lead level checked with the results back next week and I will have another check in about 6 months time. Is there any possible way of telling me what the average lead level is for a healthy male adult (myself 41yo)? What is normal and what is excessive and also what levels should healthy children have and what levels could cause them harm as I have read some terrible stories how high lead levels can affect a young child's brain development and can cause growth problems.

Many thanks for your time and I hope you can help me with my questions, Hoping to hear from you soon.

Kind regards,
Clay Tenni.

Dear Clay Tenni,

There are currently no statistics that have been aggregated for the Australian public to compare their mean blood-lead levels, but given the fact that Australia is about 7 years behind the U.S in lead poisoning awareness (including the phase out of leaded petrol), I have provided you the average blood-lead levels across the U.S population as recorded by the NHANES III and IV reports conducted between 1991-1994, and 1999- 2002:

NHANES III 1991-1994

Among U.S adults (male) aged between 20-59 years, the mean blood lead level was 2.9 µg/dl (2.7-3.1)

Among U.S. children (both sexes) aged between 6-19 years, the mean blood lead level was 1.7 µg/dl (1.5-1.8)

(The number of children sampled were 2,960, and the number of male adults sampled were 2,365)

NHANES IV 1999-2002:

Adults (male) 20-59 years, mean blood level 2.0 µg/dl (1.9- 2.0) Children 6-19 years (both sexes), mean blood level 1.1 µg/dl (1.1- 1.2)

(The number of children sampled were 6,283, and the number of male adults sampled were 2,689)

In some literature, "extreme" elevated blood-lead levels are generally considered to start at 10µg/dL, however there is a growing amount of research arguing that harmful health effects in young children can begin at levels as low as 2µg/dL. As stated by the U.S. Federal government itself in 2002, there is generally no "safe" blood-lead level for children: "there is no apparent threshold below which adverse effects of lead do not occur," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), quoted by Peter Montague, Rachel's Environment & Health News #827 - Pediatricians Urge a Precautionary Approach to Toxic Lead, September 25, 2005).

Anyone with a level that exceeds 2µg/dL may therefore be at an increased risk of harm.

I hope this information is helpful, and best of luck with your results in the forthcoming months.

Regards,
Giuseppina Tesoriero
Volunteer Information Officer