NSW Health resisted government advice to strengthen protections for children exposed to lead in Broken Hill, despite internal documents acknowledging that far lower blood lead levels than those recognised in current guidelines can harm developing brains.
Newly released documents reveal the Department of Premier and Cabinet urged a whole-of-government response to consider lowering the blood lead investigation threshold – the level at which a child’s blood test result should trigger a health response – from 5 micrograms of lead per decilitre (5μg/dL) to 3.5μg/dL.
