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American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 1983 Dec;73(12):1366–1369. doi: 10.2105/ajph.73.12.1366

Lead concentrations in inner-city soils as a factor in the child lead problem.

H W Mielke, J C Anderson, K J Berry, P W Mielke, R L Chaney, M Leech
PMCID: PMC1651267  PMID: 6638229

Abstract

Soil samples were randomly collected from 422 vegetable gardens in a study area centered in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, and having a radius of 48.28 km (30 miles). The levels of lead, four other metals (cadmium, copper, nickel, and zinc), and pH were measured for each location. The application of multi-response permutation procedures, which are compatible with mapping techniques, reveals that lead (as well as cadmium, copper, nickel, and zinc) is concentrated and ubiquitous within the soils of the inner-city area of Metropolitan Baltimore. The probability values that the concentration of metals occurred by chance alone vary from about 10(-15) to 10(-23) depending on the metal considered. Our findings pose environmental and public health issues, especially to children living within the inner-city.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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