On April 15, flames ravaged the roof and the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. Two weeks later, the police headquarters of the capital alerted on the presence of lead in the vicinity of the incident, due to the combustion of the framework during the fire. Residents are therefore advised to proceed “Cleaning their home or premises and their furniture and objects, using damp wipes to remove any dust”, is it specified in a press release published April 27.
No safe exposure
Lead, inhaled (fumes) or ingested (dust) may have particularly harmful consequences on health. Once assimilated, the metal accumulates in the body, in the brain, liver, kidneys, and eventually settles in bones and teeth. It is eventually eliminated very slowly through the urine. Small amounts in the body are sufficient in young children to hinder cognitive development and cause attention disorders. It can be responsible for anemia, hypertension, renal impairment, immune problems or on the reproductive system. “There is no threshold below which exposure to lead would be safe”, notes the World Health Organization (WHO). But at high levels, it attacks the central nervous system, causing coma, seizures, or even death.
A risk of chronic intoxication
No acute poisoning has yet been reported after the incident. But the risk of chronic intoxication is not ruled out. The analyzes carried out by the prefecture’s laboratory revealed “The presence of lead in certain very localized areas, in particular in premises which may have been left open at the time of the fire and where dust was deposited”.
The fire has indeed “Caused the release of a very large quantity of particles, linked to the combustion of the wooden framework and the lead present on the roof and in the spire of the cathedral which alone contained 250 tonnes of lead, that is to say a total lead estimated at 700 tonnes’, underlines for its part the Association of families victims of lead poisoning (AFVS) – lead poisoning.
L’Robin des Bois association, for its part, at “Several months if not years” the risk that “Now weighs on the Île de la Cité and on the sediments of the Seine”. It asks that a health surveillance protocol be established under the supervision of the Regional Health Agency, “Particularly in private and public gardens, starting with square Jean XXIII, square René Viviani and the gardens of the Hôtel de Ville”.
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