The review responds to Governing Council Decisions 23/9 III and 24/3 III. It compiles and provides an overview of evaluations, assessments and authoritative reviews already made and conclusions already drawn by the scientific community, national Governments, intergovernmental organizations, etc. relevant to lead, in order to inform future discussions of the Governing Council on the need for global action in relation to lead and cadmium. It draws mainly on recently published authoritative reviews on the various topics relevant to lead, supplemented by national information. As a large part of the previously published reviews focus on OECD-countries, where much of the current research is ongoing/has been performed and some reduction measures implemented, an attempt has been made to identify and include relevant information from non-OECD countries.