Lead exposure among 3-year-old children and their mothers living in a pottery-producing area.

The present study's aim was to compare the levels of lead exposure between 3-year-old children and their mothers in a pottery-producing area, and to assess the levels of lead exposure for 3-year-old children of the parents engaged in pottery-manufacturing work. For these purposes urinary lead, coproporphyrin, and delta-aminolevulinic acid were determined for the children and their mothers, living in a pottery-producing area and in a control area. The mean urinary lead was 9.3 to 10.8 micrograms/1 for the mothers in the pottery-producing area and 10.6 micrograms/1 for the children in the control area. In contrast, among the children in the pottery-producing area, those whose parents had been engaged in the pottery production had a much higher mean urinary lead of 13.6 to 15.8 micrograms/1. These results suggest that parental work related to lead contributes appreciably to lead exposure for children.