Study subjects and study design The study was a cross-sectional BLL survey that included blood lead sampling from 45 occupationally
exposed garage workers (44 males, 1 female) and 40 controls (36 males, 4 females). The occupationally exposed group included individuals who were mainly involved in manual auto spray-painting or welding for a duration of between 1 to 25 years in the auto- garages where excessive usage of petrol and petroleum by-products takes place with a daily exposure of 8 to 12 hours. The occupationally non-exposed group members were university students and teachers who had apparently no history of lead exposure, were non- smokers, non-khat chewers and non-alcoholics.