Lead pollution from the external redecoration of old buildings.

Lead concentrations before, during and after external redecoration have been measured in seven school playgrounds. All playgrounds showed increases in lead concentration during redecoration but the extent of contamination and duration varied enormously. The geometric mean lead value per school playground, taken on the day of the highest concentration during redecoration, ranged from 370 to 53000 micrograms g-1. The two post-war schools had significantly lower lead in dust concentrations than the other older schools.