Human health risk assessment of potentially toxic elements in the breast milk consumed by infants in Western Iran

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the human health risk of some toxic metals/metalloids [lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), and arsenic (As)] on infants via consumption of the breast milk of women living in urban areas of Kermanshah city, west of Iran. After collecting milk samples, the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk assessment as well as uncertainty analysis of toxic metal levels were carried out. The order of concentration of heavy metals/metalloids in the breast milk samples was Cr (41.07 ± 23.19) > Ni (19.25 ± 11.81) > Pb (11.5 ± 4.48) > As (1.96 ± 2.04) > Cd (.72 ± 0.42) > Hg (0.31 ± 0.26). The results revealed that the levels of Cr and Pb in the breast milk samples were exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) tolerable daily intake. In the breast milk samples a high levels of one of the trace elements As, Cd, Cr, Pb, and Ni were observed (over 73%) and in 40% of them the levels of Cr, Pb, Cd, As, and Ni were all above WHO tolerable daily intake. Moreover, the As-related point assessment of target risk factor (THQ) was higher than the allowable limit only for 1-month-old male neonates and 2-month-old female neonates (THQ > 1). In addition, Cr-related THQ scores were higher at all age and gender groups (THQ > 1). In conclusion, our findings suggest a potential risk of some metals for infants via the consumption of mothers' breast milk.

Combining approaches for environmental assessment of rehabilitated gold‐mining areas in the Eastern Amazon

“…Soil contamination by potentially toxic elements (PTE) is a concern in mining areas, especially in Au exploration sites that are commonly enriched with elements such as As, Cd, and Hg (Teixeira et al, 2018(Teixeira et al, , 2021Xiao et al, 2017). Depending on the concentrations, these elements can threaten the ecosystem and human health, causing ecological risks and diseases such as cancer (Sharafi et al, 2023), which indicates the need for practices to mitigate the dispersion of PTE in the environment. The substrates of mining areas also typically show poor fertility (Nyenda et al, 2019;Ramos et al, 2022;Wong et al, 2022).…”