Lead Case Study
People whose work exposes them to lead might inadvertently bring lead dust
home on their clothes and skin. This dust can then enter the air of
the home and, if breathed in by children, increase the children's level of
lead. Lead poisoning can be dangerous for children.
The data below were collected from a study by D. Morgon, et al., on two
groups of children. In the first group, 33 children of workers at a
battery factory had their blood lead levels measured (in micro-grams per
deciliter). These children are the "exposed" group. For each
"exposed" child, a "matching" child was found of the same age living in the
same area. The matching child's parents did not work around lead. These
are the "control" group.
Examine the data to support or refute the claim that working around lead
can increase the lead level in one's children.
Data (tab-delimited text)
Acknowledgements
- Data from D. Morton, et al. (1982), "Lead Absorption in children of
employees in a lead-related industry," American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol.
155, pages 549-555
- Published as a case study by
Bruce Trumbo
(Cal State Hayward) in Learning Statistics with Real Data
Duxbury Press, 2001
- To be published as an "electronic" case study in
Cyberstats
, Cybergnostics Inc., by Bruce Trumbo and Robert Gould.