A comparison of blood lead levels in dogs from a lead-mining, lead-smelting, urban and rural island environment.

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.