Harvard School of Public Health

Project Summary (1995-2000)

The major focus of this project is the repeated simultaneous measurement of environmental lead concentrations, blood lead concentrations, and bone lead concentrations in adolescents. The target group consists of high school students who are unlikely to have received significant occupational exposure to lead. The study started with a baseline evaluation of the cohort, including questionnaire administration, environmental sampling in and around their homes, a blood lead measurement, and a bone lead measurement. This procedure is repeated at one year intervals. Also, researchers are examining the ability of the bone lead technique to identify those adolescents who, in early childhood, were diagnosed as lead poisoned. Through this study and the following of adolescents for a period of several years, scientists hope to gain new insights regarding the kinetics of lead uptake by bone during this important growth period. Finally, researchers are examining the relationship between the ALA-D gene polymorphism on measured blood lead and bone lead concentrations.