[Concentration of heavy metals in pregnant women]

Copper, zinc, and lead concentrations were measured in two groups 72 pregnant women. Twenty-one of them, making up the control group, lived and worked in Wrocław. The other 51 women, the second group, had lived more than five years in Lubin-Polkowice and worked in the local non-ferrous metal plants. They were particularly endangered by their exposure to copper, zinc, and lead concentrations. Pregnancy was normal in all cases. Maternal blood, umbilical cord blood, placenta homogenate, and amniotic fluid were examined by techniques of atom-absorption spectrometry. The metals tested were conspicuously absorbed by placental tissue, but no danger to the pregnant women could be established.