Author name: Marian

Find out whether the effects of a package of actions, including community education, in-home advice, and help with home-based dust control can be seen by examining children’s blood lead levels in the population.

Find out what was learned by monitoring 35 “sentinel” homes in Trail from 1994 through 1998. This monitoring network was set up mainly to enable measurement of the changes in lead levels in and around homes after the new lead smelter began operation in early 1997.

This report covers the first phase of work to study whether the lead in Trail soils could be rendered less available to children by adding something to reduce its solubility in the human gastrointestinal tract. Learn how the first bench-scale trials using phosphate were conducted, and what the results suggested.

Learn what were the key factors associated with higher blood lead levels in Trail children in 1994. This study involved a more comprehensive look at links between the environment and children, following up from the first such study in 1988.

This study looked at whether regular (once every 6 weeks) thorough cleaning of floors using HEPA filter equipped vacuum cleaners would have a measurable effect on children’s blood lead levels. Fifty-five homes received the regular cleaning, while 56 homes did not.

This paper describes the limitations and challenges of studies of children’s lead exposure. It argued that insistence on proof of effectiveness of each potential intervention prior to moving ahead would lead to inaction. A case was made for moving ahead, evaluating the package of actions using the trends in annual blood lead data for Trail.

This study, conducted by UBC, laid the groundwork for the formation of the Trail Community Lead Task Force in 1990, and provided helpful guidance for the research and program development work through to 2000. Learn what the researchers discovered about the key factors affecting children’s lead exposure in Trail at that time.