Lead (Chemicals and Contaminants)

Food Safety Commission of Japan (FSCJ) conducted risk assessment of lead (hereinafter referred to as Pb) as a Self-Tasking assessment. Risk assessments of Pb were initially requested from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in relation to revision of the standards for apparatus/container and packaging (ACP) and to revision of the standards for beverages. Considering the diverse modes and routes of human exposure to Pb, FSCJ judged that a comprehensive risk assessment of Pb is appropriate instead of specific risk assessment relating to ACP or beverages. To estimate the actual Pb exposure of the general population in Japan, the present Self-Tasking assessment working group started to inspect available data of blood Pb levels among children (12 years old boys and girls, n = 289, surveyed for 2015-2018) and among adults (pregnant women, n = 96,696, surveyed for 2011-2014)(1)). FSCJ concluded that average blood level of Pb of current Japan is about 1 µg/dL or less based on the data available at present. Comprehensive evaluation of the findings from the previous epidemiological studies suggested that even blood Pb at the level of 1-2 µg/dL potentially affected children’s neuro-behavioral development or adult renal function. FSCJ, however, concluded that figuring out of a blood Pb level without adverse effects was difficult from the data of epidemiological studies. Pb level in current Japan as about 1 µg/dL or less. This value is close to the level potentially to have some effects, 1-2 µg/dL as suggested by epidemiological studies. Continuous implementation of measures to reduce Pb exposure is thus required. A close watch on the trend of blood Pb level by human biomonitoring is also necessary for verification of the efficacy of the measures to reduce Pb exposure.