Assessment of lead intakes and dose-response for a population in Ayr exposed to a plumbosolvent water supply.

1 Dietary lead intakes, blood lead concentrations and water lead concentrations were measured and their relationships investigated for 31 adults and 11 infants living in dwellings in Ayr with lead plumbing. 2 For adults, some lead intakes were found to be higher than the provisional tolerable weekly intake for lead, and for infants most of the intakes were high. 3 A cube root relationship fitted the data on blood lead versus water lead better than a linear relationship. Similarly, blood lead varied with the cube root of weekly dietary lead intake. 4 These cube root equations provided a means of estimating the impact on blood lead concentrations of exposure to lead from food and water. If cube root relationships correctly describe the association between these parameters, then the curve fitted to the results for adults indicates that the contribution to the blood lead concentrations from sources other than the diet and water was relatively small.