The concentration of lead in the topsoil of inner Melbourne kindergartens

In the 1960's environmental issues came to the fore in political and public debate. Pesticides, nuclear industries and heavy metal contamination all came under scrutiny by environmental groups and eventually governments. Unfortunately, problems arose before these products and the processes to produce them were altered or removed from sale. In the case of lead, urban poisonings became common which resulted in halting the production of lead-based paints and lead soldering in tinned food. Unleaded petrol was introduced, in 1974 in the United States (Harrison & Laxen, 1981) and 1985 in Australia (NH&MRC, 1993) with the aim of further alleviating the lead burden. Urban lead poisonings are now rare but debate still continues over the effects of long-term low dosages of lead in the diet (Pocock et al., 1994, McMichael et al., 1988, Rosen, 1995). While old paint residues and lead batteries still present a health risk, the main source of urban lead remains the automobile. This research aims to investigate Melbourne's potential risk for lead contamination in children through soil ingestion