The number of children detected to control the lead in their blood after the pollution caused by the Notre-Dame fire has doubled in July and now stands at more than 160, according to a report released Tuesday by the Regional Health Agency Île-de-France.
Six children in the "threshold of vigilance"
Of the new children tested, six are in the "alertness threshold" (25 to 50 micrograms of lead per liter of blood) and one exceeds the threshold for mandatory reporting of lead poisoning (50), but can not be attributed with certainty to the pollution caused by the fire.
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This child is attending primary school in a school group located rue Saint-Benoît, closed at the end of July because of a high concentration of lead in the outdoor courts. At this point, it is not possible to say with certainty that the exceeding of the threshold of 50 μg / l in this child is related to the fire of the cathedral.
"Maybe other causes"
"There may be other causes, and the sister of this child, educated in kindergarten in the same school, is below the threshold of 25", told AFP the director general of the ARS Ile-de-France, Aurélien Rousseau. In addition to this child and his sister, a further 162 children were found by 31 July.
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Of the 82 children who were admitted before June 30, 10 were already known to have blood lead levels (blood lead levels) included in the "threshold of vigilance" (between 25 and 50 μg / l), and one exceeded 50 μg / l. For this last child, a source of exposure to lead unrelated to the fire was discovered: the balcony of his home. Of the 80 new children tested in July, six had blood lead levels included in the "threshold of vigilance" (between 25 and 50 μg / l), without being able to be attributed with certainty to the fire. In all, 145 children are below this threshold.
In total, according to the mayor of Paris, about fifteen crèches and schools located in the immediate vicinity or farther from the cathedral are concerned by a reinforced cleaning. During the fire that severely damaged the Notre-Dame Cathedral on April 15, several hundred tons of lead contained in the boom frame and the roof melted and some of this toxic metal spread through particle shape.