The persistent question of the induction of hypertension in chronic lead intoxication lead to this study. Rats of a strain characterized by the ease of inducing renal disease and hypertension were chosen. Blood pressures were measured in double-blind fashion in animals receiving lead by gastric intubation during 138 days. Evidence of lead intoxication includes anemia, reticulocytosis, siderocytosis, abnormal bone marrow and renal histology, and elevated concentrations of lead in blood and bone (p < .001). During nearly six months of observation, hypertension and renal function impairment did not develop. The failure to induce hypertension in susceptible animals proven to be lead intoxicated warrants the search for those factors influencing lead availability and toxicity.