A comparison of blood lead levels in dogs from a lead-mining, lead-smelting, urban and rural island environment

A survey of blood lead concentrations was undertaken with 368 dogs from a lead-mining (Broken Hill), lead-smelting (Port Pirie), urban (Adelaide) and rural island (Kangaroo Island) environment. Least squares mean blood lead concentrations differed significantly (p less than 0.001) between locations and were 1.05, 0.80, 0.38 and 0.32 mumol/L respectively; there were also significant differences between young (0.75) and older (0.52) dogs (p less than 0.01) and between male (0.71) and female (0.57) dogs (p less than 0.05). Approximately 14% of dogs from Broken Hill and 10% from Port Pirie had blood lead concentration in excess of 1.7 mumol/L. It is likely that a higher proportion of the dogs at Broken Hill and Port Pirie were asymptomatically suffering from the insidious effects of lead that has not been detected.