Lead exposure from tourist earthenware: a pilot survey.

Lead from glazed earthenware used for food storage is a well-known health hazard sporadically causing lead intoxication and may be a source of disseminating lead exposure in specific population groups. To obtain a contemporary scope of the problem a pilot survey was conducted in a random sample of 2000 households with Swedish charter tourists to Greece in 2003. Response was obtained from 214 (10.7%). From these households blood samples were obtained from 33 potentially lead exposed subjects and 33 controls (participation rate among selected participants of each category was 66% and 33%, respectively). No statistically significant difference in mean blood lead was found between groups (arithmetic mean 0.13 and 0.10micromol/l for exposed and controls, respectively; p>0.05), but increased lead levels for two exposed subjects (1.0 and 0.77micromol/l) were associated with their Hellenic earthenware (tea mugs). This pilot survey, probably the first epidemiological study of the current problem, did not indicate that earthenware purchased in Greece by Swedish tourists and used for food storage is a widespread source of lead, but limitations with regard to statistical power preclude definite conclusions.

Occupational molybdenum exposure and a gouty electrician.

BACKGROUND: Molybdenum is an essential trace element and a component of xanthine oxidase, which catalyses the formation of urate. The toxicity of molybdenum in humans is considered to be low, but hyperuricaemia and gout-like symptoms have been observed sporadically. METHODS: A case of hyperuricaemia and gouty arthritis in a young man with occupational exposure to molybdenum is described. Improvement during an exposure-free period was followed by a relapse after a reconstruction designed to quantify his molybdenum exposure. CONCLUSION: This case seems to represent the first observation of gout associated with occupational molybdenum exposure, but the association might also be entirely circumstantial.