Increased lead absorption caused by working next to a lead recycling factory

Kun‐Yu ‐Y Chao, Jung‐Der ‐D Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine whether workers at a factory in Taiwan, adjacent to lead recycling plant, were affected by lead contamination. Workers at the lead recycling plant itself were found to suffer from lead poisoning; air and soil outside the plant were heavily contaminated by lead. Forty‐one of the 45 workers in a forging factory next to the lead recycling plant were enrolled as the exposed group. A comparison group of 51 workers were selected from another forging factory about 20 km away. Each subject was interviewed about his lifestyle, work history, and residence, and blood was drawn for lead measurement by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The results showed that two groups were compatible in age, sex, and smoking patterns. Blood lead of the exposed group was significantly higher than that of the comparison group (mean ± SD: 20.4 ± 9.4 μg/dl vs. 5.9 ± 2.9 μg/dl). The difference was independent of sex and working zones. Blood lead levels were lower among exposed workers who had been employed less than 2 months compared with those employed longer. There was no difference among exposed workers in different outdoor working zones. Five months after improvement of pollution control and decrease in the production volume of the lead factory, 30 exposed workers were retested for blood lead. The blood lead of outdoor workers had an average decrease of 4.2 μg/dl while that of indoor workers showed no significant difference. We concluded that the changes of blood lead levels among exposed workers were caused by lead contamination generated by the neighboring lead recycling plant.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)229-235
Number of pages7
JournalAmerican Journal of Industrial Medicine
Volume26
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1994 Aug

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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