Paris (AFP)
The provisional assessment of lead measurements made in about 750 children attending school near the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris does not indicate alarming levels of lead poisoning, it was reported Wednesday to the French regional health authorities.
The fire of the famous Gothic cathedral on April 15 melted several hundred tons of lead in the frame of the monument, raising fears that the dust of this toxic metal would contaminate people living and working nearby.
The proportion of children exceeding the mandatory reporting threshold for lead poisoning (50 micrograms of lead per liter of blood) is "slightly lower" than the national average measured in a survey in 2009, according to an organization's analysis public health.
Six cases of exceeding the threshold of 50 μg / l were recorded, a proportion of blood lead levels of 0.8%, "slightly lower" than that measured in a study in 2009, which was 1.7% in France.
Levels at high levels in some schools had led to massive testing, with children being particularly vulnerable to the effects of lead in the body.
This is a reassuring but still "provisional" conclusion, which must be "taken with caution", said AFP Aurélien Rousseau, Director General of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Ile-de-France .
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