Lead and cadmium in the hair and blood of children from a highly industrial area in Poland.

The study covered the children living in Miasteczko Slaskie, near the largest Zn plant in Poland. This is one of the areas highly contaminated with heavy metals. The subjects were 158 children aged from 8 to 15 (98 boys and 60 girls). The average Pb and Cd levels in the hair of the entire children population was 8.21 +/- 5.59 microg/g, and 0.91 +/- 0.61 microg/g, and the average Pb and Cd levels in their blood were 14.32 +/- 3.98 and 0.52 +/- 0.24 microg/dL(-1), respectively. The children population under investigation was divided according to their sex. The hair of the girls contained, on the average, 5.06 +/- 2.81 microg/g of Pb and 0.74 +/- 0.48 microg/g of Cd and the hair of the boys 10.14 +/- 6.0 microg/g of Pb and 1.01 +/- 0.65 microg/g of Cd. The blood of the girls contained, on the average, 13.23 +/- 4.23 microg/dL of Pb and 0.48 +/- 0.21 microg/dL of Cd, and the blood of the boys 14.99 +/- 3.68 microg/dL of Pb and 0.55 +/- 0.24 microg/dL of Cd. Thus, both the hair and blood of the boys accumulated more Pb and Cd than those of the girls. A correlation between the concentrations of these metals was confirmed.