Human risk assessment of As, Cd, Cu and Zn in the abandoned metal mine site

Abstract

The cancer risk and the non-cancer hazard index for inhabitants exposed to As, Cd, Cu and Zn in the soils and stream waters of the abandoned Songcheon Au-Ag mine area were evaluated. Mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in agricultural soils were 230, 2.5, 120, 160, and 164 mg kg(-1), respectively. Mean concentrations of As, Cd and Zn of the water in the stream where drinking water was drawn was 246 microg L(-1), 161 microg L(-1) and 3899 microg L(-1), respectively. These levels are significantly higher than the permissible levels for drinking water quality recommended by Korea and WHO. The resulting human health risks to farmers who inhabited the surrounding areas due to drinking water were summarized as follows: (1) the non-cancer health hazard indices showed that the toxic risk due to As and Cd in drinking water were 10 and 4 times, respectively, greater than those induced by the safe average daily dosages of the respective chemicals. (2) the cancer risk of As for exposed individuals through the drinking water pathway was 5 in 1000, exceeded the acceptable risk of 1 in 10,000 set for regulatory purposes.

Heavy metal contamination of paddy soils and rice (Oryza sativa L.) from Kočani Field (Macedonia)

“…The highest concentration values were, however, measured in samples from the polluted section VII. Paddy soil from this section exhibited Pb concentrations in the range of 296-983 lg g -1 (Table 1), which is above the median values of Pb content in contaminated agricultural soil reported by Lee et al (2005) and Liu et al (2005) as well as above the limits provided by the environmental protection agencies of Slovenia and Germany (Table 1).…”

Pollution evaluation, sources and risk assessment of heavy metals in hand-dug wells from Ejisu-Juaben Municipality, Ghana

“…Risk assessment consists of hazard identification, exposure assessment, dose response and risk characterization (Lee et al 2005). According to Lim et al (2008), two toxicity risk indices reported are the slope factor (SF) for carcinogen risk characterization and the reference dose (RfD) for noncarcinogen characterization (Table 1).…”

A review of the distribution of particulate trace elements in urban terrestrial environments and its application to considerations of risk

“…The ecotoxicological significance of trace elements in street dust had also been directly evaluated by means of bioassays (Wang et al 1998). In the last few years, risk-assessment strategies-extensively employed by regulatory authorities to define soil screening levéis or soil guideline valúes-have increasingly been adopted and, when necessary, adapted to the peculiarities of urban environments in order to appraise the relevance-in terms of health effects-of toxic elements and compounds in urban matrices by jointly considering toxicity of the contaminants and level of exposure of the population (De Miguel et al 2007;Ferreira-Baptista and De Miguel 2005;Lee et al 2005;Kim et al 2005;Hemond and Solo-Gabriele 2004;Granero and Domingo 2002;Wcislo et al 2002;Boyd et al 1999). …”