¹Federal Environmental Agency, Berlin, Germany

Correspondence: Dr. Kerstin Becker, Federal Environmental Agency, P.O. Box 330022, Berlin 14 191, Germany. Tel.: +49-30-8903-1311. Fax: +49-30-8903-1830. E-mail: kerstin.becker@uba.de

Received 23 February 2000; Accepted 27 June 2000.

Abstract

The German Environmental Survey (GerES) is a large-scale, representative population study that has been carried out three times up to now with a time interval of about 7 years. GerES I was performed in 1985/1986, GerES IIa in 1990/1991 in West Germany, and GerES IIb in 1991/1992 in East Germany, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). In GerES II, blood, urine, and scalp hair samples of 4021 adults aged 25–69 years and of 736 children aged 6–14 years were analysed as well as environmental samples (house dust, drinking water, indoor and personal air, diet). Characteristics of the frequency distributions of the substances analysed in the different media were calculated. The geometric mean (GM) for lead, cadmium, and mercury in the blood of adults amounted to 45.3, 0.36, and 0.51 g/l, respectively. The corresponding values of arsenic, cadmium, and mercury in urine were 6.3, 0.29, and 0.54 g/l, respectively. The concentrations of lead in blood, cadmium in blood and urine, and mercury in blood are lower in children than in adults. The GM of pentachlorophenol (PCP) in urine of adults was 2.67 g/l and in urine of children, 4.15 g/l. These results of GerES II were compared with the so-called HBM values which represent health-based exposure guidelines and have been defined by the Human Biomonitoring Commission (HBC) of the Federal Environmental Agency, inter alia for lead in blood, cadmium in urine, mercury in blood and urine, and PCP in urine. They also provided a sound basis for the setting of reference values to describe the status of the German population. A total of 1.8% and 0.6% of the German females in child-bearing age had a level of lead in blood higher than HBM-I (100 g/l) and HBM-II (150 g/l), respectively. One percent of the children had a blood lead level above HBM-I. House dust and drinking water were analysed to characterise exposure in the domestic environment. Arsenic, cadmium, and lead deposition in homes amounted to 5.4 ng/(m² day), 11.7 ng/(m² day), and 0.29 g/(m² day), respectively. In the content of vacuum cleaner bags, concentrations were 2.1, 0.9, and 5.9 g/g. PCP, lindane and permethrin could be detected in the house dust of most German households. The pollutant load of the drinking water is significantly influenced by the corrosion of pipe materials and fittings. The new EC limit value of 10 g/l for lead was exceeded in 7.7% of the first draw samples. The relatively high percentage (14%) of samples from East Germany that exceeded the current German guideline value for formaldehyde of 0.1 ppm in indoor air may be explained by the widespread use of contaminated particleboard in the former GDR.