Heavy Metals Pollution Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment of Farmland Soils and Agricultural Products in a Mining Area of Henan Province, China

Abstract

The development of mineral resources has promoted the rapid development of the social economy. However, mining and mineral processing are regarded as a primary source of heavy metals contamination in the environment due to activities of mineral excavation, ore transportation, smelting, and refining [1][2][3][4][5]. Among all mining wastes, tailings are a solid waste with especially high toxic heavy metals produced in the process of mining, mineral processing and smelting, which are considered the greatest threat to ecological stability due Pol. AbstractThis research focused on soil contamination and the health risks around a mining area in Henan Province of China. Heavy metals contents in farmland soils and agricultural products were analyzed. The results showed that the soils in the mining area had been polluted by heavy metals to different degrees, whereas the average concentrations of heavy metals in farmland soils had exceeded the background value of Henan Province. Cd was the main pollutant element in soils. Agricultural products grown on farmland near the mining area were heavily polluted by Cd and Pb and slightly polluted by Cr. Furthermore, the health risk to local inhabitants via food ingestion was assessed based on the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) health risk assessment model. The results showed that the local inhabitants experience high potential health risks by intake of Cd and Pb via consumption of these vegetables. Leafy vegetables had the highest health risks of all agricultural products, whether adults or children, suggesting high health risks by consuming the contaminated agricultural products. Moreover, because children were more sensitively affected by heavy metals from food ingestion, we should pay more attention to monitoring children's health in such areas.

Effects of slag-based cementitious material on the mechanical behavior and heavy metal immobilization of mine tailings based cemented paste backfill

“…As shown in Figure 3 , the results indicated that the Pb, Cr, Cu, and Cd contents in the tailings were significantly higher than the corresponding background values associated with the soil in Henan Province [ 60 ]. Particularly, Pb was the element with the highest concentration of 1377 mg kg −1 , which was approximately 61.75 times the allowable value.…”

Mining-Related Metal Pollution and Ecological Risk Factors in South-Eastern Georgia

“…Soils were sampled in 2014 and 2017 to evaluate changes of Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn concentrations. The research evaluates sources of soil pollution in the study area to determine processes creating these patterns in soil chemistry; similar studies can be found in other works [27][28][29][30][31]. Finally, interpolation was done to estimate pollution levels across the entire study area, related to the works of Hou et al and Luzio et al [32,33].…”

“…The ratio between the total metal content in the soil sample (Cm) and world average shale values, as a background values, were used for the Cf calculation: Cf = C metal /C shale . See the grading standards for the ER and RI in the Table 2 [28,29].…”

Oxidative stress and toxicity produced by arsenic and chromium in broiler chicks and application of vitamin E and bentonite as ameliorating agents

“…They have become health hazards worldwide due to their non-biodegradability and bioaccumulation. Biological activities include rock weathering and volcanic eruptions, while anthropogenic activities include mining, ores smelting, and phosphate fertilizer ( 6 ).…”