The News
Thursday 28 of March 2024

Blood tests recommended over Notre Dame lead risk


AP Photo,FILE - In this file photo dated Tuesday April 16, 2019, people take photos of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, one day after a major blaze broke out at Paris' iconic cathedral. Paris’ regional health agency on Tuesday June 4, 2019, is recommending that children under seven and pregnant women who live near Notre Dame Cathedral take a blood test over concerns that the fire may have caused lead pollution in the area. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, FILE)
AP Photo,FILE - In this file photo dated Tuesday April 16, 2019, people take photos of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, one day after a major blaze broke out at Paris' iconic cathedral. Paris’ regional health agency on Tuesday June 4, 2019, is recommending that children under seven and pregnant women who live near Notre Dame Cathedral take a blood test over concerns that the fire may have caused lead pollution in the area. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, FILE)

PARIS (AP) — Paris’ regional health agency is recommending that children under seven and pregnant women who live near Notre Dame Cathedral take a blood test over concern the fire that ravaged the monument caused lead pollution.

The April 15 blaze sent tons of toxic lead from the cathedral’s burnt-out roof into the air, later sinking to the ground as dust. The agency said it has identified a child from the area with “a blood lead level above the regulatory threshold.” Soil samples and some administrative buildings nearby tested positive for high levels of lead.

The agency said Tuesday however recent samples show there is “no risk linked to air quality.”

Paris authorities have begun a cleanup of lead dust in the remaining cordoned-off parts of Notre Dame’s forecourt with a vacuum-style machine.