ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2009
Windblown lead carbonate as the main source of lead in blood of children from a seaside community: an example of local birds as "canaries in the mine".
Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- Understanding Climate Change Threats to Vertebrate Wildlife by Studying Ecoimmunology Across Biological Scales.Integrative and comparative biology · 2025Review
- Estimating the Effects of Soil Remediation on Children's Blood Lead near a Former Lead Smelter in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.Environmental health perspectives · 2022Article
- Heavy metal incorporation in foraminiferal calcite under variable environmental and acute level seawater pollution: multi-element culture experiments for Amphisorus hemprichii.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022Article
- Psychological Status During the Second Pregnancy and Its Influencing Factors.Patient preference and adherence · 2022Article
- Lead Toxicoses in Free-Range Chickens in Artisanal Gold-Mining Communities, Zamfara, Nigeria.Journal of health & pollution · 2020Article
- Sources of Blood Lead Exposure in Rural Bangladesh.Environmental science & technology · 2019Article
- Trace element concentrations in feathers of seven petrels (Pterodroma spp.).Environmental science and pollution research international · 2019Article
- Concerns about Quadrupole ICP-MS Lead Isotopic Data and Interpretations in the Environment and Health Fields.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Review
- The use of animals as a surveillance tool for monitoring environmental health hazards, human health hazards and bioterrorism.Veterinary microbiology · 2017Review
- Evaluation and assessment of the efficacy of an abatement strategy in a former lead smelter community, Boolaroo, Australia.Environmental geochemistry and health · 2016Article
- Impact of Dust from Ore Processing Facilities on Rain Water Collection Tanks in a Tropical Environment--The Obvious Source "Ain't Necessarily So".International journal of environmental research and public health · 2016Article
- Garden soil and house dust as exposure media for lead uptake in the mining village of Stratoni, Greece.Environmental geochemistry and health · 2014Article
- Identification of sources of lead exposure in French children by lead isotope analysis: a cross-sectional study.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2011Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn late 2006, the seaside community in Esperance, Western Australia, was alerted to thousands of native bird species dying. The source of the lead was thought to derive from the handling of Pb carbonate concentrate from the Magellan mine through the port of Esperance, begun in July 2005. Concern was expressed for the impact of this process on the community.
objectiveThis study was designed to evaluate the source of Pb in blood of a random sample of the community using Pb isotope ratios.
methodsThe cohort comprised 49 children (48 < 5 years of age) along with 18 adults (> 20 years of age) with a bias toward higher blood lead (PbB) values to facilitate source identification.
resultsMean PbB level of the children was 7.5 microg/dL (range, 1.5-25.7 microg/dL; n = 49; geometric mean, 6.6 microg/dL), with four children whose PbB was > 12 microg/dL. The isotopic data for blood samples lay around two distinct arrays. The blood of all children analyzed for Pb isotopes contained a contribution of Pb from the Magellan mine, which for young children ranged from 27% up to 93% (mean, 64%; median, 71%). Subtraction of the ore component gave a mean background PbB of 2.3 mug/dL. Several children whose PbB was > 9 microg/dL and most of the older subjects have complex sources of Pb.
conclusionsThe death of the birds acted as a sentinel event; otherwise, the exposure of the community, arising from such a toxic form of Pb, could have been tragic. Isotopic data and mineralogic and particle size analyses indicate that, apart from the recognized pathway of Pb exposure by hand-to-mouth activity in children, the inhalation pathway could have been a significant contributor to PbB for some of the very young children and in some parents.
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