Lead content in abortion material from urban women in early pregnancy

Lead concentration was determined in abortion material obtained from non-professionally exposed women following legal abortions. Furthermore, lead and free erythrocyte porphyrin levels in mother's blood were measured. Under conditions of apparent "normal" lead exposure, we detected lead levels in abortion products which were between 0.07 and 5.29 micrograms/g dry weight with a geometric mean of 1.27. No significant correlation was observed between the parameters measured in mother's blood and lead content in the specimens of the first trimester. The influence of different factors, such as smoking, area of residence, gestational age and parity, was also investigated. None of these factors showed a contributory effect on the total variation of lead in abortion material. From these data, we can conclude that, at least in our population, lead does not accumulate in human embryos/fetuses in the first trimester of pregnancy.