Lead (Pb) is a developmental neurotoxicant found in industrial activities, many of them already banned worldwide. The regulation and prohibition of Pb applications in Argentina are relatively recent (leaded gasoline was phased-out in 1996), and the benefits gained from such controls have not yet been adequately evaluated. We thus here sought to determine current blood Pb (PbB) levels and δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (δ-ALAD) activity in children from Cordoba, Argentina, and to compare these results with a similar study performed before Pb was phased-out in gasoline. In the first study (Hansen et al., 1999) blood samples from 172 healthy children assisted in health centers and hospitals were collected during 1996; while in the second study (Martinez et al., 2012 - in press) samples from 161 children were collected between 2009 and 2010. The results from Hansen et al. revealed that the 26.8% of the pediatric population had PbB levels above 10 µg/dl (level considered safe by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - CDC), while Martinez et al. reported that only the 3.72% of the children evidenced PbB levels above that limit. Furthermore, mean PbB levels decreased during the 13 year-period from 7.70 + 1.10 µg/dl to 2.58 + 0.30 µg/dl; δ-ALAD activity was also reduced. These results evidenced a substantial reduction in exposure to Pb in the local pediatric population after Pb was restricted in gasoline. Although both studies revealed average PbB levels below 10 µg/dl, CDC recently recommended a reference value of 5 µg/dl, raising a renewed call for primary prevention. With these new guidelines, we estimate a 5-fold increase in the currently number of local affected children, reaching the 16.76% of the population. It is expected that these results reveal the importance of the implementation of prevention and follow-up policies.
*Equal contribution
