PARIS — A French environmental group has filed suit over what it says was the government’s delayed response to the large-scale release of lead into the atmosphere during the Notre-Dame fire.

Over 400 tons of lead in the spire and the cathedral’s roof burned- the night of the April 15 fire, releasing toxic particles into the air, according to the environmental group, the Robin Hood association. The release endangered spectators of the fire, cleanup workers, apartment dwellers and even the schools in Notre-Dame’s neighborhood, the group said in its lawsuit.

[Read about the enormous risks that firefighters took to prevent the collapse of Notre-Dame.]

The case accuses the French authorities of minimizing the problem at first, though they now appear to be making up for lost time.

At least three schools have been closed, the group says, and cleanup and consolidation work at the cathedral has been stopped because of the danger of ingesting lead particles, which can cause neurological defects.

“There was neither recognition nor warning about the danger,” said Jacky Bonnemains, the head of the Robin Hood organization, in an interview. “People have been endangered, despite our warnings for weeks afterward.”

Mr. Bonnemains added, noting that a warning about elevated lead levels in the vicinity of Notre-Dame was issued only on April 27, nearly two weeks after the fire.

Mr. Bonnemains asserted that at least 12 schools were contaminated during the fire, a number not confirmed by the authorities.

The lawsuit, which in the French style is against unnamed defendants, accuses officials of “lapses” in setting up protection against lead poisoning, and blasts the “passivity of the public officials.”

On Tuesday, the regional health office for the Paris region said in a news release that “lead pollution is very significant on Île de la Cité,” the island in the Seine River where Notre-Dame is, “and around the Cathedral.”

But the agency had said on July 5 that “all the interior samplings taken in the residences of families living near the cathedral are beneath regulation levels,” adding that in the one exception, “a household cleaning brought the lead contamination to an acceptable level.”

Tuesday, it noted in the news release that “no health impact that can be attributed to the pollution caused by the fire has been thus far observed.”

Mr. Bonnemains acknowledged in an interview that the emotion and confusion after the catastrophic fire, which shocked the French may have sidelined environmental concerns. President Emmanuel Macron of France had pledged to rebuild the cathedral quickly immediately after the fire. Any concerns about lead, Mr. Bonnemains said, “were considered a slowing down, an obstacle to quick reconstruction.”

But now, Robin Hood is not convinced.

Mr. Bonnemains said the lead particles were likely diffused in a wide circumference around the cathedral, as much as a mile. That range includes the plaza in front of Notre-Dame, celebrated and much frequented quays filled with open-air bookstalls, the Place Saint-Michel and schools in the relatively distant 6th arrondissement.

“The bookstalls on the Left Bank were very exposed, and they got no warning from the officials,” Mr. Bonnemains said. At the cathedral, he said, his group took pictures of workers and street cleaners who had no protection. “This shocked us,” he said. “And the cafe terraces continued to be used, with no warning at all.”

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