Abstract
This report demonstrates that infants and children have suffered from high aluminum accumulation, based on the evidence data of 1,720 children. For estimating its body burden, the scalp hair aluminum concentrations were measured with inductively coupled mass spectrometry(ICP-MS). The geometric mean of hair aluminum concentration was 10.4 and 11.1 µg/g(ppm)for boys and 11.8 and 10.5 ppm for girls, in the groups aged 0-3 and 4-9 years, respectively. These levels were high-significantly(p < 0.0000)and nearly 3-fold higher than those in the adults(3.8 and 4.0 ppm for male and female). Ten children exhibited higher aluminum levels exceeding 50 ppm, and the highest level observed was 116.8 ppm in a five-year-old boy. This wide-used metal should be monitored as toxic element risky to the young generation and its adverse effects remain to be clarified.
