Assessment of lead contamination of the general environment through blood lead levels.

More than 2000 blood samples were collected at random from full-time middle school teachers in 9 cities of China and analyzed for lead concentration with strict quality assurance procedures. Questionnaries about the smoking habits, alcohol consumption, residence condition, and fuel used at home were filled out by each person, and information about traffic, and lead concentration in different areas of the environment was also collected as far as possible. The result showed that the geometric mean of blood lead levels of teachers in different cities was ranging between 59-82 μg l(-1) among them the lowest levels were found in Nanjing and the highest in Shanghai. The difference between the lowest and the highest value was only 23 μg l(-1). Comparing with the results of WHO/UNEP and CEC projects. The overall geometric average blood level in China is lower than in all the other countries except Japan. It indicates that the lead pollution in the general environment of China was not as severe as in the participating countries of WHO/UNEP and CEC projects. This may be attributed by the following factors: The less automobile triffic, the larger proportion of non-leaded gasoline used and the less canned food consumption. Factors influencing the lead levels in blood were also analyzed and the 'normal value' (95% upper limit) of blood lead was assessed to be 160 μg l(-1).