Silver Valley Lead Study: Further Analysis of the Relationship between Blood Lead and Air Lead

Blood lead and air lead levels of children who lived within 32 km of a smelter in Kellogg, ID were measured in 1974 and 1975. While an analysis of the 1974 survey has appeared, the results of the 1975 survey and an evaluation of the change in blood lead levels of those children who participated in both the 1974 and 1975 surveys has not previously been discussed in the literature. It Is concluded that, for these data, in the air lead range of 0.5–5 μg/m³, the blood lead-air lead relationship can be adequately described by blood lead-air lead slope which is approximately 1.0 and at most 1.4. This slope was also found to be Independent of children’s age. It Is shown that an accurate estimate of the blood lead-air lead relationship cannot be obtained without taking proper account of selected environmental variables; specifically, pica, sex, age, father’s work status, education, and home cleanliness.