Reference values of blood lead in the Buenos Aires area.: Healthy adults people occupationally exposed

Blood lead levels were determined for an adult healthy population not occupationally exposed to lead, living in the City of Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires. Venous blood samples from subjects of both genders (n = 278) were processed by means of electrothermal atomization atomic absorption, at 283.3 nm. Lead blood values obtained for the total population ranged between 2.27 and 17.35 mu g/dL. The female population studied (n =123) showed values between 1.99 and 15.8 mu g/dL, which were not statistically different from those obtained for the male population (n =119), and which ranged between 3.06 and 17.67 mu g/dL. The natural logarithms of all values were adjusted to the Gaussian distribution.