LEAD-EXPOSURE IN A SOIL PICA CHILD

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 behavior (Calabrese et al., 1989). Subsequent analysis of the soil-pica child data revealed that soil-pica occurred only during week two of the two-week study during which she ingested 10-13 grams of soil per day (Calabrese et al., 1991) and that over 90% of the soil ingested was of outdoor versus indoor (i.e. dust) origin (Calabrese and Stanek, 1992). The present study revealed that on days when the child displayed soil-pica behavior she also displayed striking increases in fecal lead excretory values that could not be explained by other sources of lead exposure (e.g. food). The linking of soil ingestion and lead exposure in the soil-pica child was supported by temporal relationship as well as the magnitude of the change in both soil based fecal tracer excretion and fecal lead excretion. This paper represents the first report to our knowledge of the quantitative relationship of soil-pica behavior and exposure to lead.