Relationship Between Soil Lead Levels and Blood Lead Levels Among Children Living Near a Lead Smelter in Jamaica

A survey was conducted to determine the distribution and determinants of environmental and blood lead levels near a conventional and several cottage lead smelters and to assess the relationship between environmental and blood lead levels in a tropical, developing-country setting. Fifty-eight households were studied in the Red Pond community, the site of the established smelter and several backyard smelters, and 21 households were studied in the adjacent, upwind Ebony Vale community in Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica. Elevated levels of lead in soil and housedust and elevated blood lead levels in children were largely confined to the Red Pond community. In that community, soil lead was the strongest predictor of PbB among Red Pond subjects under 12 years of age. The blood lead—soil lead relationship in children differed from that reported in developed countries; blood lead levels were higher than expected for the household- specific soil lead levels that were observed.