Paris: It took a blaze that nearly destroyed Paris' most famous cathedral to reveal a gap in global safety regulations for lead, a toxic building material found across many historic cities.
After the Notre Dame fire in April spewed dozens of tons of toxic lead-dust into the atmosphere in just a few hours, Paris authorities discovered a problem with the city's public safety regulations: There was no threshold for them to gauge how dangerous the potentially-deadly pollution was from the dust that settled on the ground.
Officials in other historic European capitals such as Rome and London, as well as the US Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organisation also have no such outdoor lead dust hazard guidelines.
The reason, they say, is that although there are lead regulations, no one contemplated a conflagration on a lead-laden building the scale of Notre Dame - whose spire towered nearly 100 meters high.
Poisoning from lead dust can cause permanent loss to cognitive ability, seizures, coma, or death and exposure is of greatest risk to pregnant mothers and to young children, who can easily transfer toxic dust into their mouths.
Meanwhile, The iconic Notre Dame Cathedral will not hold Christmas services for the first time in over 200 years, following the devastating blaze that ravaged the renowned structure earlier this year, officials said. It will be the first time since 1803 that the 850-year-old Gothic landmark will not hold a Christmas mass.
