Abstract:
Blood lead levels were drawn on 151 children ages nine months to six years living in Everett, Washington, in census tracts with over 50% of houses built before 1950. Parents filled out a questionnaire which asked about environmental and demographic characteristics which have been shown or postulated to correlate with children's blood leads. Housedust samples were obtained from 41 of the homes using High Volume Surface Sampler protocol developed for the EPA.
Over 70% of blood lead values were below the limit of detection of the test, and only 6% were above 10 mcg/dl. The geometric mean ranged fromn 2.1 to 4.9 mcg/dl depending on the value assigned to blood leads that were below the limit of detection.
The geometric mean housedust lead concentration was 479 mcg Pb/gm dust and the geometric mean lead loading value was 562 mcg PB/m2 carpet. There was no correlation for house-dust lead or lead loading with blood lead. the only correlations for the questionnaire data were peeling paint with blood lead and house age and remodelling with dust lead.