Evidence of soil-pica behaviour and quantification of soil ingested.
A previously published report on soil ingestion in children, revealed evidence that one of the subjects, a 3.5-year-old female, displayed soil-pica behaviour. Soil ingestion estimates for this child ranged from approximately 5 to 7 g d-1 for seven of eight soil tracers employed. The present paper revealed that the soil-pica behaviour occurred only in the second of the two weeks of observation, during which daily soil ingestion rates ranged from 10 to 13 g d-1. Tracer recovery studies displayed acceptable precision (i.e. 100% less than +/- 30%) for six of the eight tracers during the soil-pica episode (week 2). Evaluation of the weekly soil ingestion values of the remaining 63 subjects indicated no convincing evidence of soil-pica behaviour in this group of children aged 1-4.
Calabrese
E J
EJ
Environmental Health Science Program, School of Public Health, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003.
Stanek
E J
EJ
Gilbert
C E
CE
D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008670:Metals / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010842:Pica / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis*
D008670:Metals; D012987:Soil