Paris
Notre-Dame poisoning: French health authorities are urging that young children and pregnant women in central Paris get their lead levels tested, because of pollution from the fire that engulfed Notre-Dame cathedral in April. Authorities had initially told residents of Ile de la Cité and surrounding neighborhoods not to worry about health effects from the blaze, but this week a test revealed abnormally high levels of lead in a child’s blood. More than 300 tons of lead from the cathedral’s roof and steeple melted in the fire, leaving huge heaps of contaminated rubble, said the environmental group Robin des Bois. “For several months or even years, residents and people within the affected perimeter may inhale lead dust without knowing it,” the group said.