Safe lead level questioned

Since the mid-1970s, when lead has been phased out of gasoline and household paint, average blood lead levels in American adults have decreased from 13.1 micrograms per decilitre to 1.6 micrograms per decilitre.

Muntner's team used data from a national health survey of nearly 14,000 adults whose blood lead levels were measured between 1988 and 1994.

Compared to participants with blood lead below 1.9 micrograms per decilitre, those with levels between 3.6 micrograms per decilitre and 10 micrograms per decilitre had:

* A 25 per cent higher risk of death from any cause.
* A 55 per cent higher risk of death from cardiovascular diseases.
* An 89 per cent higher risk of death from heart attack.
* Two and a half times the risk of death from stroke.

There was no increased risk of death from cancer at the blood lead levels studied, the researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

"Although markedly reduced, the current blood lead levels may not be low enough, and we believe that practical and cost-effective methods for reducing lead exposure in the general U.S. population are needed."

Lead levels are still orders of magnitude higher than pre-industrial levels, Muntner said.

The increased risk of deaths from any cause and cardiovascular death affected non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Mexican Americans and men and women, the team reported.

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