title: Background exposure of urban populations to lead and cadmium: comparison between China and Japan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess and compare the background exposure of the general population to lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) in China and in Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  Food duplicates and peripheral blood samples were collected from nonoccupationally exposed subjects, viz 202 Chinese women in four Chinese cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Nanning, and Tainan) and 72 Japanese women in three Japanese cities (Tokyo, Kyoto, and Sendai) in the years 1993-1995. Wet-ashing and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometric methods were used for the determination of Pb and Cd levels in food and blood samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Geometric mean (GM) dietary Pb intake (25.8 micrograms/day) and the GM Pb concentration in blood (56.7 micrograms/l) in Chinese were significantly higher than in Japanese women (11.6 micrograms/day in food and 32.1 micrograms/l in blood), whereas Cd in food (32.1 micrograms/day) and Cd in blood (1.92 micrograms/l) in Japanese were significantly higher than in Chinese women (9.9 micrograms/day in food and 1.07 micrograms/l in blood). The intake of Pb and Cd via boiled rice accounted for 3.6% and 31.1% of the total dietary burden in Chinese, and 12.1% and 32.7% in Japanese, respectively. The Cd burden was acquired almost exclusively through the dietary route, whereas the Pb burden came from both air and food, especially in the case of the Chinese population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The background Pb exposure in the Chinese population was higher than that in the Japanese population, whereas Cd exposure was lower in Chinese women than in their Japanese counterparts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Z W
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimbo
authors.forename: F S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Y Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikeda
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*; D001822:Body Burden; D002104:Cadmium / Q000097:blood*; D002105:Cadmium Poisoning / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004435:Eating; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood*; D007855:Lead Poisoning / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D012275:Oryza / Q000737:chemistry; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D002104:Cadmium; D007854:Lead