Cent Eur J Public Health 1997, 5(2):75-78
Monitoring of blood lead levels in Hungary
- National Institute of Public Health, Budapest, Hungary
Monitoring of blood lead levels (BLL) in children started in Hungary only in the 80's. A study on exposed areas of Budapest and Szolnok indicated a mean BLL higher than 20 µg/dl. Data from studies show a strong relationship between the BLLs of children and traffic. As a result of reduction of the lead content of gasoline, the BLLs of children decreased steeply in the early 90's. In 1994 a 6.9 µg/dl mean BLL was found in school children living in provincial towns, and 7.9 % of the data exceeded the limit of 10 µg/dl. Recently a representative survey in preschool children (n = 1401, age 0-4 years) showed a mean BLL of 5.7 µg/dl, and only 4.7 % exceeded the limit of 10 µg/dl. Despite this improvement nation-wide the condition is not satisfactory. Children are exposed to risk because of socioeconomic problems, carelessness, lack of public awareness. Such dangerous situations were created in the last two years by contamination of paprika powder, and battery dismantling without permission.
Zveřejněno: 1. červen 1997 Zobrazit citaci