Children's Blood Lead Concentrations from 1988 to 2015 in Mexico City: The Contribution of Lead in Air and Traditional Lead-Glazed Ceramics.
Despite the removal of lead from gasoline in 1997, elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) > 5 µg/dL are still detectable in children living in Mexico City. The use of lead-glazed ceramics may explain these persistent exposure levels. Mexico lacks a national surveillance program for BLL, but temporal trends can be derived from epidemiological studies. With this approach, we leveraged a series of birth cohorts to report BLL trends from 1987 to 2002 and expanded our analysis to 2015. Data were from 1⁻5-year-old children from five Mexico City cohorts followed between 1988 and 2015. BLLs are reported on 1963 children, who contributed 4975 BLLs. We estimated the trend of mean BLL, which decreased from 15.7 µg/dL in 1988, to 7.8 µg/dL in 1998 (a year after the total ban of lead in gasoline), to 1.96 µg/dL in 2015. The proportion of BLL ≥ 5 µg/dL decreased from 92% (1988⁻1998) to 8% (2008⁻2015). The use of lead-glazed ceramics was associated with an 11% increase in BLLs throughout the study period. Replacing lead-based glazes in traditional ceramics may be the key to further reducing exposure, but this presents challenges, as it involves a cultural tradition deeply rooted in Mexico. In addition, the creation of a rigorous, standardized, and on-going surveillance program of BLL is necessary for identifying vulnerable populations.
['Pantic|Ivan|I|0000-0002-3178-1482', 'Tamayo-Ortiz|Marcela|M|', 'Rosa-Parra|Antonio|A|0000-0001-7129-5131', 'Bautista-Arredondo|Luis|L|', 'Wright|Robert O|RO|', 'Peterson|Karen E|KE|0000-0003-0471-1427', 'Schnaas|Lourdes|L|0000-0002-7967-0570', 'Rothenberg|Stephen J|SJ|', 'Hu|Howard|H|', 'Téllez-Rojo|Martha María|MM|']
D000393:Air Pollutants D002516:Ceramics D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D004781:Environmental Exposure D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D007854:Lead D007855:Lead Poisoning D008297:Male D008800:Mexico D035862:Vulnerable Populations
lead in air lead-glazed ceramics Mexico City cohorts children’s blood lead