LeadSpread

A tool for evaluating exposure and the potential for adverse health effects resulting from exposure to lead in the environment.

LeadSpread was created to run on Microsoft Excel®

LeadSpread 7 is the latest version of the DTSC Lead Risk Assessment Spreadsheet. LeadSpread is a tool that can be used to estimate blood lead concentrations resulting from exposure to lead via dietary intake, drinking water, soil and dust ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact. Each of these pathways is represented by an equation relating incremental blood lead increase to a concentration in an environmental medium, using contact rates and empirically determined ratios. The contributions via the five pathways are added to arrive at an estimate of median blood lead concentration resulting from the multi-pathway exposure. Ninetieth , ninety-fifth, ninety-eighth, and ninety-ninth percentile concentrations are estimated from the median by assuming a log-normal distribution with a geometric standard deviation (GSD) of 1.6. Download LeadSpread 7 by clicking on the link below.

Improvements incorporated in version 7 are described in two posters presented on 20 March 2000 at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Toxicology in Philadelphia. The posters are contained in an executable zipped file, posters.exe, and require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.

January 2009 Update:
Evaluation of lead exposures is currently under internal Cal/EPA review in light of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s (OEHHA) development of a child-specific benchmark change in blood lead concentration. Updated recommendations regarding evaluation of exposures to lead will be forthcoming pending the outcome of this internal review. In the interim, for the residential land use scenario, the DTSC Lead Risk Assessment Spreadsheet (LeadSpread) should be used to evaluate multimedia exposures to lead. If lead is a contaminant of potential concern (COPC) in soil only, HERD recommends using the 2004 U.S. EPA residential soil Cal-modified Preliminary Remediation Goal (PRG) which is 150 mg/kg. This value is also the same as the OEHHA residential soil California Human Health Screening Level (CHHSL) for lead.

 DTSC’s LeadSpread is currently under revision to ensure that the model is adequately protective of women of child-bearing age. In the interim, HERD recommends using the 2004 U.S. EPA industrial PRG for lead (800 mg/kg) to evaluate the industrial/commercial scenario and adult exposures to lead.

The LeadSpread 7 Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet (bloodpb7 1_09.xls) is contained in the executable zipped file "bld_pb7.exe." After downloading, run bld_pb7.exe in Windows Explorer to expand the files. Documentation on LeadSpread is contained as notes within the spreadsheet.

Download LeadSpread 7 (63KB)

NOTE: If you have comments on LeadSpread 7, please include them in an e-mail message to Michael Wade at mwade@dtsc.ca.gov