LAST MINUTE
ANSES (National Agency for Food Safety, Environment and Labor) was seized to assess the impact of lead pollution found in the streets of Paris after the Notre-Dame fire. The work of ANSES must help to respond to the unprecedented problem posed by the Notre-Dame fire: there is no regulatory threshold for the presence of lead in the streets and the health risks related to this pollution are therefore difficult. to evaluate.
This work "aims to characterize the exposure of people to lead resulting from the contamination of these surfaces of public outdoor spaces," said the Directorate General of Health (DSG), which depends on the Ministry of Solidarity and the health. "As far as possible, a perspective should be made with other sources of exposure," says the DGS.
Lead levels justified closure to the public
The lead dust found on the Paris asphalt could indeed not be due not only to the fire of the cathedral, but also to older sources, have repeatedly suggested the health authorities. "This work will primarily concern the general population", and first "sensitive individuals such as children or pregnant women," she continued.
They "will also focus on workers, targeting primarily those primarily engaged in outdoor public spaces," added the DGS. In the absence of a threshold, assessing the impact of external pollution with lead is not easy. After the fire in mid-April, the levels measured on the forecourt (500,000 to 900,000 μg / m2) and in the cathedral justified the closure to the public and the suspension of the yard at the end of July. It resumed on August 19, with new protections for workers.
But measures taken in the surrounding area revealed disparate values, difficult to interpret: 50,000 μg / m2 rue de la Cité or 20,000 μg / m2 place Saint-Michel, on the other side of the Seine. To try to understand better, the authorities sought to determine what rate of the famous metal was already present on Parisian soil before the fire, inheritance of lead contained in gasoline until 2000 or that used for the coating of buildings old.
260 children have had a blood lead since the fire
Based on samples taken in recent years, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) has estimated that the level of lead pollution that can be expected to be found in the streets of the capital city is 5,000 μg / m2. The fire of Notre-Dame had melted several hundred tons of lead found in the frame of the Gothic monument. Clean-up work was carried out in several schools around the monument.
About 260 children attending schools near the cathedral have been diagnosed with blood lead since the fire. Three cases of children with too much lead in the blood have been announced, but no link can be found with the fire of Notre-Dame.