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Hair lead levels in boys and girls from two Sardinian communities with different environmental backgrounds

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Abstract

This study reports hair lead levels measured in 1998 in 213 children (73 boys and 140 girls) from two Sardinian towns: Sant' Antioco is in the Sulcis-Iglesiente zone (SW Sardinia), defined as an “area of high risk of environmental crisis” by the Decree of the Italian Council of Ministers dated November 30, 1990. Sestu, a semi-urban centre about 10 km from Cagliari (the island capital), can be considered not exposed to lead pollution. Hair lead (PbH) concentration was determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The boys of Sant'Antioco have the highest arithmetic mean PbH concentration (6.71 μg/g), followed by the girls of Sant' Antioco (4.99 μg/g), and finally by the Sestu boys (4.03 μg/g) and girls (2.83 μg/g). The results suggest that the analysis of hair lead levels is a suitable method to screen for differences among populations in the environmental exposure to lead pollution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Biologia Sperimentale, Sezione di Scienze Antropologiche, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria, SS 554 (km 4.5), 09042, Monserrato, Italy

    Sanna E., Iovine M. C. & Vallascas E.

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  1. Sanna E.
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  2. Iovine M. C.
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  3. Vallascas E.
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Sanna, E., Iovine, M.C. & Vallascas, E. Hair lead levels in boys and girls from two Sardinian communities with different environmental backgrounds. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 247, 283–290 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02639372

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