Smoking and Lead

Abstract

The smoking habits of over 4,000 Du Pont employees were compared with their urine and blood lead levels. The mean urine lead levels were found to be 27.1μg/liter for nonsmokers, 28.6μg/liter for cigarette smokers, and 29.0μg/liter for pipe and/or cigar smokers, lean blood lead values were 19.1μg/100 ml, 19.9μg/100 ml, and 17.3μg/100 ml respectively for the three groups. The data were submitted to a multiple regression analysis to determine if the differences in groups were associated with smoking habits or a reflection of other variables. No evidence was found to indicate a significant effect of smoking on blood lead levels. The influence of smoking on urine lead levels, while statistically significant, was very small compared with the total variability of the data and probably of no biological significance.