The relationship of lead in soil to lead in blood and implications for standard setting

As part of a soil lead regulation process, this review was conducted to determine the association between lead in soil and established human health effects of lead or validated biomarkers of lead exposure. We reviewed only studies where soil exposure could be distinguished from other sources of lead and whose design could reasonably be used to infer a causal relationship between soil lead and either biomarkers or health effects. No such studies of health effects were found. Studies describing a quantitative relationship between soil lead and blood lead did meet our criteria: 22 cross-sectional studies in areas with polluted soil; and three prospective studies of soil lead pollution abatement trials. The cross-sectional studies indicated that, compared to children exposed to soil lead levels of 100 ppm, those exposed to levels of 1000 ppm had mean blood lead concentrations 1.10–1.86 times higher and those exposed to soil lead levels of 2000 ppm had blood lead concentrations 1.13–2.25 times higher. The prospective studies showed effects within the ranges predicted by the cross-sectional studies. Differences in results between studies were surprisingly modest and likely explainable by random sampling error, different explanatory variables included in data analyses and differences in methods of measuring lead in environmental specimens.