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A comparison of blood lead levels in dogs from a lead‐mining, lead‐smelting, urban and rural island environment
Author(s) -
KOH T S,
BABIDGE P J
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
australian veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1751-0813
pISSN - 0005-0423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-0813.1986.tb08067.x
Subject(s) - lead (geology) , lead smelting , lead exposure , blood lead level , port (circuit theory) , smelting , veterinary medicine , medicine , zoology , toxicology , biology , chemistry , cats , organic chemistry , electrical engineering , engineering , paleontology
SUMMARY A survey of blood lead concentrations was undertaken with 368 dogs from a lead‐mining (Broken Hill), lead‐smelting (Port Pirie), urban (Adelaide) and rural island (Kangaroo Island) environment. Least squares mean blood lead concentrations differed significantly (p < 0.001) between locations and were 1.05, 0.80, 0.38 and 0.32 μmol/L respectively; there were also significant differences between young (0.75) and older (0.52) dogs (p < 0.01) and between male (0.71) and female (0.57) dogs (p < 0.05). Approximately 14% of dogs from Broken Hill and 10% from Port Pirie had blood lead concentration in excess of 1.7 μmol/L. It is likely that a higher proportion of the dogs at Broken Hill and Port Pirie were asymptomatically suffering from the insidious effects of lead that has not been detected.