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Home lead-work as a potential source of lead exposure for children

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Summary

Health examinations for lead poisoning were made on 62 family members from 15 families of homes carrying on lead work, such as quench-hardening in a molten lead bath and type-printing, as work at home. The most interesting findings concern the occurrence of cases with an unduly high lead absorption among children, but not among adult family members other than home lead-workers. The home environments of the children with an unduly high lead absorption represented contamination with housedust high in lead contents. The ingestion of the contaminated housedust by hand-to-mouth is probably responsible for the excessive lead exposure of the affected children. The results of the present study suggest that contanimation of housedust with lead due to home lead-work constitutes a possible hazardous source of lead exposure for children.

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Kawai, M., Toriumi, H., Katagiri, Y. et al. Home lead-work as a potential source of lead exposure for children. Int. Arch Occup Environ Heath 53, 37–46 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406175

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406175

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