Author's Name:	Ali Th. Khlaif, Mayada J.Egbashi, Sameh Sh.Sadoon, Ammar A. Abed, Ali A. AbdAli & Faten K. Saleh
Subject Area:	Health Science
Subject	Medicine and Dentistry
Section	Research Paper

lead, children, adults, atomic absorption spectroscopy, CNS effects.

Lead is one of the old poisons and continuous exposure considered as a major public health especially in urban areas. Children are affected by lead poisoning more than adults and nervous system is the major system that affected by high levels of lead in children. In this study, lead levels are measured for children volunteers aging between 6 – 13 years and those aging over 13 years. Measurement done by using atomic absorption spectroscopy ( AAS ) for blood samples. Results from AAS are supported by X – ray for long bones and blood analysis for basophilic stippling in order to evaluate the relationship between the blood lead levels (BLLs) and volunteers status. BLLs were between 5 – 25 µg / dL for both groups ( children and adults ) and the mean for 30 individuals of each was about 13.9 ± 4.8 µg / dL for children, and about 14.4 ± 3.6 µg / dL for adults and asymptomatic for both groups. After comparison of both sexes ( male and female ), we did not find any difference in BLLs between two sexes (15.6 ± 3.5 vs. 13.9 ± 3.9) respectively. From this study, we concluded that mean BLLs about 14 – 15 µg / dLin our city and this level carry no effect on both adults and children, besides; gender has no significant effect on BLL and this is supported by clinical signs and other investigations.