Overview
This is a baseline human biomonitoring study conducted in September 1974, before widespread adoption of automotive catalytic converters. The study measured platinum, palladium, and lead in hair, urine, feces, and blood from three age groups in Southern California (Los Angeles area vs Lancaster high desert). It establishes pre-catalytic-converter background levels for Pd and Pt in human biological matrices.
Key numbers
- Pd in hair: all samples below LOD (LOD approximately 3.1 ug/g)
- Pd in feces: all samples below LOD (LOD approximately 0.001 ug/g)
- Pd in composite blood: below LOD (LOD approximately 0.1 ug/100 mL)
- Pt: similarly all samples below detection limits in all matrices
- Lead showed measurable differences between LA (near freeway) and Lancaster populations
- Three age groups: children (Group I), young adults (Group II), mature adults (Group III)
- Analytical method: atomic absorption spectrometry
Methods (brief)
Atomic absorption spectrometry applied to hair, urine, feces, and blood samples collected September 1974. Three age cohorts sampled from two geographic areas with different automotive traffic density. LODs reported per matrix.
Implications
This page makes the source discoverable for palladium evidence routing. Provides foundational pre-catalytic-converter human background data showing non-detectable Pd and Pt in all measured biological matrices, which serves as a historical baseline for assessing subsequent increases following catalytic converter introduction.
Related evidence
Update history
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