Cr Curran will use next Monday's meeting of Wollongong City Council to call for a greater focus on residual lead contamination, including setting up an Illawarra Lead and Industrial Contamination Taskforce, and calling for urgent state and federal funding for scientific examination of homes, soil and the environment.

Cr Curran said previous studies showed homes within five kilometres of the southern end of Port Kembla to have significantly higher levels of lead contamination than properties outside this radius.

But, she said, there were concerns that, despite some people being told to avoid growing vegetables or eating eggs from their chickens, the contamination had not conclusively been removed.

"As homes get older, there's more lead falling down into say your carpet, or into your furniture, or into your living space - very fine dust we're talking about," she said.

"We haven't seen adequate action to give the assurance that this environment, home, soil, is clear. That contamination doesn't go away."

In May, the National Health and Medical Research Council revised its definition of the level of lead in the blood at which alarm bells should ring.

It halved the level to five micrograms per decilitre, stating that if this level is detected then the source of exposure should be investigated and reduced, particularly if the person is a child or pregnant woman.

The research council found evidence that lead is associated with reduced IQ and academic achievement in children, as well as behavioural problems, and higher blood pressure in adults.

But while it said there was "insufficient evidence" to prove that lead on its own had caused these health effects, the evidence of association was sufficient to bring about a change in the level at which lead exposure was regarded as being above and beyond "background" lead exposure.

Cr Curran said lead and heavy-metal contamination information should be reinstated to the s149 certificate council issued for properties being sold. She believed this had been removed from the s149 certificate, which advised homebuyers of risks associated with a property.

The Mercury asked the city council several times whether it had removed the information from s149 certificates, but the council said it was unable to answer.

A spokesman said it would need to have specific addresses and site information before council could "research" whether lead contamination had been removed from s149 certificates.

Councillors will consider the motion on Monday.