§ Mr. Ian McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the Government's current recommended safety levels for lead(a) in air and (b) in blood for (i) children, (ii) young people aged 16 to 18 years, (iii) women of child-bearing age, (iv) pregnant women and (v) men. [41120]
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§ Mr. HoramThe current ambient air quality standard for lead is 2 microgrammes per cubic metre as an annual average.
There is no blood lead level that is considered completely safe although there is no clear evidence of harm at level below 10 microgrammes per decilitre of blood. It is for this reason that the policy of successive Governments has been to reduce exposure to lead, from all sources, whenever reasonably practical. Measures taken to date have produced a very substantial fall in blood lead levels in the past two decades as shown by various surveys including the health survey for England.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average level of lead in the blood of(a) children, (b) young people aged 16 to 18 years (c) women of child bearing age, (d) pregnant-women and (e) men in the United Kingdom. [41121]
§ Mr. HoramA major blood lead monitoring programme was carried out as part of the health survey for England. The initial findings show a significant fall in blood lead concentrations. The median blood lead concentrations for men, women, and boys and girls aged 11 to 15 years, were 3.6, 2.6, 2.2 and 1.7 microgrammes per decilitre respectively. Results from this survey were published in a letter in the 5 October edition of theBritish Medical Journal.