Abstract
The relative contribution to household dust of lead particles from a mining waste superfund site and lead-based paint is investigated. Automated individual particle analysis (IPA) based on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray energy spectroscopy (EDX) is used to develop a classification algorithm for determining lead particle source contribution in household dust vacuum bags. On a volume basis the proportion derived from the mining waste is found to be 26%, the proportion derived from a paint source is 16%, and the proportion from soil is 37%. In 15% of the lead particles identified a specific originating source could not be determined. Using a weighting method accounting for the lead concentration per particle rather than volume the contributions were similar for mining waste and paint, 21% and 23%, respectively, but the soil contribution was reduced to 8%, and the source for 29% of the lead could not be identified. These results suggested that the contribution of waste piles to the lead present in household dust is at least as important a source as paint. There is evidence to suggest that a large percentage of lead in the soil also originated from the waste piles and the overall contribution, therefore, of the waste piles may be greater than the contribution from paint.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 359-373 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| State | Published - Jul 1998 |
Scopus Subject Areas
- Environmental Chemistry
- Toxicology
- General Environmental Science
- Pollution
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
