Estimation of dietary intake of lead and cadmium in the general population of the Republic of Croatia.

The level of lead and cadmium in foodstuffs in the Republic of Croatia was determined by the method of atomic absorption spectrophotometry from the beginning of 1988 to mid 1993. Mean weekly dietary intake of these toxic metals was then estimated on the basis of the level of contamination and consumption of the foodstuffs concerned. The results show that mean weekly dietary intake of lead is 701 micrograms/person and 121.4 micrograms cadmium/person. With respect to the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI), these values are equal to 19.9% for lead and 24.4% for cadmium.