A pilot study determining hair arsenic and lead levels in residents of a community established on a former landfill in Puerto Rico.

Arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) were determined in hair of 12 adult women and 27 children living in a soil-metal contaminated community in Puerto Rico. Average concentrations in residential soils ranged from 24 to 109 μg/g for As and from 42 to 1,585 μg/g for Pb. For hair-As, about 75% of the samples were below 0.08 μg/g. Hair-Pb presented levels of health concern, with 10% of the samples above a reference value of 5 μg/g, indicating significant exposure to Pb. Multivariate analyses revealed that children's Pb hair levels were predicted by age and sex, while consumption of home-grown animals influenced the association with soil-Pb.