Resumen de Monitoring blood lead levels of children from Portoscuso: a Sardinian village at risk for lead pollution

Emanuele Sanna, A. Liguori, L. Palmas, Giovanni Floris

• This study presents blood lead levels of children resident in two villages of southern Sardinia:Portoscuso, chosen as the control area, and Sestu, which may be considered unexposed to lead pollution.Blood lead concentration was evaluated in heparinized venous blood samples by graphite furnaceatomic absorption spectrophotometry. For the two samples of children considered, the median valuesand 90th and 98th percentiles were calculated to see if samples of tested children exceeded the statutoryreference limits (Presidential Decree 496/82).The blood lead levels of the two samples, also whensubdivided by village and sex, are lesser than the reference limits decreed by Italian law (PresidentialDecree 496/82). However, it is to be noted that the male and female children from Portoscuso show atreference percentiles higher blood lead values with respect to their peers from Sestu. The median, the90th and 98th percentiles of blood lead levels obtained in this study for children from Portoscuso arehigher with respect to those reported in a previous investigation carried out in 1993; whereas at thereference percentiles Sestu's children show a decrease as compared to those noted in 1993.