Blood lead levels in children of Cordoba City.

Exposure to environmental lead is a major hazard to public health. Internat ional Environmental Agencies have assessed that blood lead concentrations o f 10.0-15.0 mu g/dl or even lower may be a risk factor for children. This s urvey focussed on enviromental lead contamination and tried to provide info rmation about blood lead levels in the children population of Cordoba City. A total of 172 children between 6 months and 9 years of age assisted in he alth centers and hospitals from December 1995 to December 1996 were surveye d. Lead assessment was performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry wit h graphite furnace. Results revealed that 73.3% of the children population studied exibited blood lead levels lower than 10.0 mu g/dl; 19.2% evidenced risk concentration levels (10.0-14.9 mu g/dl) and 7.6% showed concentratio ns higher than 15.0 mu g/dl. It was confirmed that children with elevated c oncentrations lived in areas where numerous car repair shops are located. T hree of the subjects lived in slums. From the group with low blood lead lev els (< 10.0 mu g/dl), 25 children lived downtown or near main avenues of he avy traffic and belonged to middle class families. Our survey showed a high occurrence of children with lead levels higher than 15.0 mu g/dl (7.6%) wh ose etiology risk factors have been identified. Prevention should be able t o cut down this occurrence through a safe control of environmental lead sou rces.