Blood lead concentrations in United Kingdom have fallen substantially since 1984

EDITOR,—Shilu Tong and colleagues show that the effects of low level environmental exposure to lead, especially on the longer term cognitive development of children, are still of concern.1 We have carried out the first major study for eight years to monitor lead concentrations in Britain. We report here our early results, which show a large fall in blood lead concentrations.

As part of the 1995 health survey of England, blood samples were collected for lead analysis from 6868 subjects from eight regions throughout England; the subjects were considered to be a geographically representative sample of the whole population. Most of the subjects (95%) were adults aged >/=16, of whom 3139 (45.7%) …