REVIEW Health hazards of China’s l d R

Nanjing University, Xianlin Campus, Nanjing 210023, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleDespite its well-documented health impacts and efforts to curb its use, lead (Pb) remains a pervasive global neuro-toxin capable of causing serious and in some cases irre-versible neurological damage. For years, leaded gasoline was the dominant source of human exposure to Pb: it had accounted for 80-90 % of airborne Pb in cities where it was used [1]. Since a global phase out of leaded fuels began in worldwide. In the United States, for example, the preva-lence of elevated BLLs (at the time, ≥100 μg/L, 100 micro-grams of Pb for each liter of blood) decreased from 77.8% to 4.4 % between 1976–1980 and 1988–1991 [2]. Still, 16% of children worldwide are currently estimated to have BLLs above 100 μg/L [3]. Although leaded gasoline in China was phased out on July 1, 2000, approximately 24% of China’s children from 2001–2007 were assessed to have elevated BLLs [4], a noticeable drop from a previous 1995–2003 assessment showing 34 % with elevated level