Lead absorption in Cape children: a preliminary report.

There is little information on environmental lead absorption in childhood in southern Africa. The concentration of lead in the dentine of shed teeth was measured as a cumulative marker of long-term absorption in 80 children attending a Cape Town dental clinic. Blood lead levels were determined in 226 children, 114 from the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, 23 from Ciskei and 89 from a dental clinic. This small survey reports on the precision of laboratory technique and indicates that some children living in urban Cape Town have accumulated lead to an extent comparable to that in large Western cities.