Press Releases
Government releases latest blood test results of citizens affected by lead in drinking water incident
The Government today (December 30) released the latest blood test results of
citizens affected by the lead in drinking water incident involving one
sample from a lactating woman who is a teaching staff member of a secondary
school, which showed a normal blood lead level. Details are in the Annex.
Taking reference from medical literature as well as local and overseas
experience, the Hospital Authority (HA) and the Department of Health (DH)
have derived the reference values of blood lead levels and corresponding
actions to be taken in various healthcare settings.
According to established measures, the DH will perform lead exposure
assessments for all citizens with borderline raised blood lead levels, and
will arrange for preliminary developmental assessment if they are children
aged under 12. The HA will arrange for health evaluation and follow-up for
citizens with borderline raised blood lead levels who are children aged 12
or above, adults, pregnant women or lactating women, and arrange ongoing
blood lead level monitoring for persons with borderline raised blood lead
levels.
As regards citizens whose blood lead levels had been found to be borderline
raised, the HA has, according to established measures under the care plan,
continued to monitor their blood lead levels after the first blood test. For
children aged below 18 and lactating women, blood lead level testing will be
conducted in three months' time, and repeated according to clinical
assessment, until their blood lead levels return to normal. Pregnant women
will receive follow-up blood tests until their blood lead levels return to
normal.
As of today, the blood lead levels of a total of 149 citizens have been
reviewed. The latest batch of review cases concerns two children whose blood
lead levels are still borderline raised (at 5.47 and 12.14 micrograms per
deciliter respectively). The DH will inform the families of the children's
review results. The HA will follow up on the children's health and offer
clinical interventions as appropriate.
Members of the public may call the DH's hotline (2125 1122) regarding lead
and its health effects. Appointments for blood tests for those who belong to
the more easily affected groups and are living in affected public rental
housing estates can also be made by calling the hotline. As at 5pm today,
the DH had arranged 5 862 appointments for blood testing and the hotline had
received 7 907 enquiries.
Ends/Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:01
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Annex