Blood lead levels of Beijing (China) citizens

Lead levels were determined in 856 blood samples obtained from Beijing citizens who were either factory workers or clerks with no known occupational exposure to heavy metals including lead. Additional analyses were conducted on 74 samples from factory workers in the small city of Jinxi, China. The geometric mean blood lead level (Pb-B) among the general Beijing population 99.2 and 76.1 micrograms 1-1 for non-drinking and non-smoking men and women, respectively, with a statistically significant difference between the two sexes. The effect of drinking was not detectable, whereas that of smoking was suggested, but not conclusive. The Pb-B levels among Jinxi workers did not differ from the levels among Beijing citizens. The Pb-B for inhabitants of Beijing was similar to the levels of inhabitants of a medium-sized city, Hefei, and lower than the values for residents of two heavily industrialized large cities, Shanghai and Shenyang. The values for Chinese citizens appear to be higher than those for Japanese and Korean farmers, but the possibility of urban-rural differences remains to be examined.