Introduction

Abstract

This Symposium is aimed at bringing together specialists with different backgrounds to discuss recent information on various aspects of lead toxicity, lead exposure in Brazil, the presence of lead in the environment, and the pre- and analytical methods for lead determination. Lead is a toxic metal usually found in the human environments because of it is very useful. Here we describe some historical aspects regarding lead and the human health that will highlight why even low level lead exposures should cause concern. At the end we present data from studies in apparently non-exposed children from Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.