Human health-risk assessment of heavy metal–contaminated soil based on Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

Soil contamination soils of by heavy metals (HMs) poses serious threats to the soil environment and enters the human body through exposure pathways such as ingestion and skin contact, posing a threat to human health. The purpose of this study was to analyze the sources and contributions of soil HMs, and to quantitatively assess the human health risks of soil HMs to different populations (i.e. children, adult females and adult males), and to analyze the human health risks caused by various sources of sensitive populations. 170 topsoil (0–20 cm) were collected from Fukang, Jimsar and Qitai on the northern slope of Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, China, and the contents of Zn, Cu, Cr, Pb and Hg were determined. This study used the Unmix model and a health-risk assessment (HRA) model to assess the human health risks of five HMs. The results showed that: (1) The mean values of Zn and Cr were lower than the background values of Xinjiang, the mean values of Cu and Pb were slightly higher than the background values of Xinjiang but lower than the national standard, and the mean value of Hg and Pb was higher than the background value of Xinjiang and the national standard. (2) The sources of soil HMs in the region were mainly traffic, natural, coal, and industrial sources. Moreover, the HRA model combined with Monte Carlo simulation showed similar trends in the health-risk status of all population groups in the region. Probabilistic HRA revealed that noncarcinogenic risks were acceptable for all populations (HI < 1) while carcinogenic risks were high (children: 77.52%; female: 69.09%; male: 65.63%). For children, carcinogenic risk from industrial and coal sources exceeded the acceptable threshold by 2.35 and 1.20 times, respectively, and Cr was the main element contributing to human carcinogenic risk. These findings suggest that carcinogenic risks from coal-based Cr emissions cannot be ignored, and the study area should aim to control Cr emissions from industrial sources. The results of this study provide support for the prevention of human health risks and the control of soil HMs pollution across different age groups.

Cadmium and lead accumulation in important food crops due to wastewater irrigation: Pollution index and health risks assessment

“…The disturbance of enzyme activity, especially thiol group-containing enzymes and antioxidants, has been observed due to heavy metal ions like Cd, Pb, As, Cr, and Hg [ 63 ]. The findings from various studies have highlighted the potential health risks associated with the long-term ingestion of vegetables contaminated with heavy metals, emphasizing the need for continuous monitoring and effective measures to mitigate these health risks [ 2 , 3 , 20 , 58 , 60 ].…”

“…These models aid in evaluating the health risks of heavy metals from various sources and identifying primary pollution sources, contributing to the development of targeted risk management strategies [ 16 ]. Additionally, the ecological and potential health risk assessment of heavy metals in soil and food crops is vital to understanding the risks to humans through the food chain and mitigating potential health hazards [ 20 ]. The emergence of environmental pollution-related public health hazards has prompted several countries to establish a health risk assessment (HRA) framework to quantify the health hazards.…”

Source and Migration Pathways of Heavy Metals in Soils from an Iron Mine in Baotou City, China

“…This toxicity can result in damage to the ecosystem [11][12][13]. They can also migrate to the human body through ingestion, inhalation, skin exposure, and food chains, posing a threat to people's health [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Cd might cause Minamata disease, Hg might cause itai-itai disease, and Cu might cause cardiovascular disease, retinal disease, and cancer [20,21].…”

Fuzzy-Based Human Health Risk Assessment for Shallow Groundwater Well Users in Arid Regions

“…The availability of water quality data is the primary reason for HHRA studies for deep groundwater sources, as the water suppliers regularly monitor heavy metals in both raw and treated water for performance evaluation of their treatment facilities. Most of the above studies used USEPA and Health Canada cancer and non-cancer risk assessment guidelines to evaluate each exposure group's point-estimate assessment approach using average contaminant levels [41,42]. The conventional point-estimate approach does not appropriately consider the extremely high or low concentrations in the area under study.…”

“…In addition, various uncertainties due to limited samples, sampling inaccuracies, and measurement errors also affect the final assessment results. Fuzzy-based methods have also been integrated with probabilistic methods for HHRA to aggregate aggregated water quality scores [9,41].…”