Some children are suffering from brain damage and retardation as a result of lead exposure in a central Queensland mining centre, an expert says.
The report, commissioned by five Mount Isa families suing mining giant Xstrata, the Queensland government and the local council, found two children suffered brain damage as a direct result of lead poisoning.
Watch Living Black's interview with some of the residents bringing forward the claim against Xstrata.
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The reports are the first scientific evidence of the effect on children of lead pollution from the hard rock mine and smelters in the town, The Australian reported on Friday.
One child, Sidney Body, 5, had a blood level of 31.5 micrograms per decilitre - three times the legal limit.
The other child, four-year-old Bethany Sanders had a blood level of 27.4mcg/dl, the report by Theodore Lidsky, an adjunct professor of neuroscience at City University of New York found.
About 5 per cent of Mount Isa's children aged between one and four still have blood lead levels above the international and Australian safety limits, according to a study to be released later this year.
In 2008, that figure was 11 per cent.
