The National Institute of Environmental Research (3rd KONEHs) conducted a survey of 280 residents in Ulsan, Suwon and Asan, and the concentration of heavy metals in the blood and urine were also analyzed. In case of blood lead concentration, Ulsan 2.27 ㎍/㎗, Suwon 2.08 ㎍/㎗, and Asan 1.75 ㎍/㎗, the high peak in Ulsan, and the low peak in Asan. In case of cotinine concentration, Ulsan smoking(609.16 ㎍/g_ct) is higher than nonsmoking(74.07 ㎍/g_ct), as Suwon and Asan smoking(416.72 ㎍/g_ct, 903.21 ㎍/g_ct) is higher than nonsmoking(72.72 ㎍/g_ct, 18.06 ㎍/g_ct), smoking group is higher than nonsmoking group in all areas revealed statistically significant correlation(p<0.01). In considering results synthetically, these study results are an aid to constructing environmental health science-side heavy metal management measure education programs for normal residents.

Exposure to lead, particularly at chronic low-dose levels, is still a major public health concern. The present study is aimed to evaluate the blood lead levels in populations resident in some abandoned mine areas of Chungbuk, Korea. Eight hundreds and sixty-six subjects who reside in abandoned mine area located in Chungbuk, Korea, were enrolled this study. We evaluated the blood lead level according to the age, gender, and working history in mines. For statistical analysis, SPSS ver 12.0 was used. The geometric mean blood lead levels was 2.93 ㎍/ℓ and nobody showed levels over the guidelines of WHO. Ex-smokers and current-smokers showed significantly higher blood lead levels compared to that of non-smokers. The blood lead levels in individuals with a history of working in a mine was higher than those in individuals without such histories. The populations resident in some Chungbuk abadoned mine area showed low levels of lead in blood. This suggest that lead poisoning might not be induced by abandoned mine in Chungbuk, Korea.