Gee, I would never have guessed that this was a potential issue for home gardeners in our big cities:
Backyard hens’ eggs contain 40 times more lead on average than shop eggs, research finds
Our newly published research found backyard hens’ eggs contain, on average, more than 40 times the lead levels of commercially produced eggs. Almost one in two hens in our Sydney study had significant lead levels in their blood. Similarly, about half the eggs analysed contained lead at levels that may pose a health concern for consumers.
So how do you know whether this is a likely problem in the eggs you’re getting from backyard hens? It depends on lead levels in your soil, which vary across our cities. We mapped the areas of high and low risk for hens and their eggs in our biggest cities – Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – and present these maps here.
Our research details lead poisoning of backyard chickens and explains what this means for urban gardening and food production. In older homes close to city centres, contaminated soils can greatly increase people’s exposure to lead through eating eggs from backyard hens.
Tim, I thought you might be interested in particular...
Reckon we’re all right as we’re not close to the city centre and this area was until quite recently rural.
ReplyDeleteI find it pretty hard to believe. What are they saying is the source of the lead? Do we all have lead in the back yard?
ReplyDeleteNot that surprising given prior studies from many years ago highlighting how the backyard vege garden could be a dangerous source of lead. Depends on the prior use of the land. Industrial being a big one. Decades of lead based paints and petrol haven't helped.
ReplyDeleteThere is no safe limit for lead exposure.