Paris health authorities are recommending that children and pregnant women take blood tests to screen for lead amid fears pollution from the Notre Dame fire infected surrounding neighborhoods.
Officials called this move a “precaution” in a Tuesday statement, as they are still unsure what caused the elevated levels of lead found in the bloodstream of a Paris child.
“The analysis of the samples made since Notre Dame’s fire reveal that there is no risk related to lead ingestion from the air, but confirm the presence of lead dust in the immediate neighborhood of the cathedral,” French police said in a statement released early May.
Lead levels in the square where the cathedral is located rose to over 32 times the safe limit. In recent weeks, new samples were taken. They revealed the threat of lead exposure in these same neighborhoods has “largely disappeared.”
Robin des Bois, a French environmental group, estimated the fire melted more than 300 tons of lead.
France’s Regional Agency of Health has opened an investigation into the affected child’s case and will be exploring all potential causes.
