Population exposure to trace elements in the Kilembe copper mine area, Western Uganda: A pilot study

Mwesigye, Abraham R.; Young, Scott D.; Bailey, Elizabeth H.; Tumwebaze, Susan Balaba

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.08.125

Cited by 44 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The food crops collected included beans (n=21), yams (n=14), onions (n=4), cassava (n=13), sweet potatoes (n=4), bananas (n=13), amarant (n=18), maize (n=7) and ground nuts (n=3). The foods were sampled from locations within the Kilembe mine catchment which had earlier been confirmed to have high concentrations of trace elements in top soils, especially Cu, Co and Ni (Mwesigye et. al, 2016).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The levels of soil dust contamination in foods were therefore estimated, for each element (M), from the soil V concentration and knowledge of the M:V ratio in the surrounding soil (Eq. 1; Joy et al, 2015) The average soil V and other elemental concentrations for the area were obtained from Mwesigye et. al, (2016).…”

Section: Estimation Of Soil Dust In Foodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The average body weight (BW in Eq. (2) was obtained from a past study in the area (Mwesigye et. al, 2016) where average body weight of children between 7-18 years was measured at 29.6 kg while average body weight of adults above 18 years was 65.5 kg.…”

Section: ……………………………………………………………2mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Kilembe mine area, Uganda, mining and processing of copper was active between 1956 and 1982. Previous studies (e.g Mwesigye et al, 2016) showed that the Kilembe catchment soils were contaminated with Cu, Co and Ni, in many cases exceeding recommended thresholds for agricultural soils. Food crops, including Amarathus vegetables, cassava and bananas, also had elevated concentrations of these three metals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Uptake of trace elements by food crops grown within the Kilembe copper mine catchment, Western Uganda

Mwesigye

Young

Bailey

et al. 2019

Journal of Geochemical Exploration

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The mining and processing of copper from the Kilembe mine between 1956 and 1982 left behind millions of tons of cupriferous and cobaltferrous mine tailings within the Kilembe mine catchment. Subsequent erosion and deposition of the tailings into adjacent areas led to increased concentrations of Cu, Co, Ni, Zn, and Pb in the catchment soils. The Kilembe catchment is utilised for subsistence farming, producing mainly food crops, but there are also a number of settlements in the contaminated area. A study was conducted in 2016 to establish the concentrations of trace elements in a range of food crops grown within the catchment. Samples of maize, bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, ground nuts, amaranthus, onions, beans and yams were collected, washed and oven dried at 80 o C. The dried foods were finely ground, microwavedigested in nitric acid and analysed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS). All the foods grown in contaminated soils showed instances of higher concentrations of Cu, Co, Ni, Zn, and in some cases Pb, compared with controls grown in uncontaminated soils.Amaranthus accumulated a range of trace elements with 26% of the samples exceeding EC thresholds for Cu in vegetables of 26 mg kg -1 .Other crops with elemental concentrations exceeding recommended thresholds in some of the samples included beans (Zn), yams (Zn and Pb) and ground nuts (Zn). The concentrations of trace elements in onions, cassava, sweet potatoes, bananas and maize were not significantly different from controls. However, strong and positive correlations between the trace elements were found in beans, yams, amaranthus, maize and ground nuts, suggesting a common source of trace metals. There was strong evidence of soil dust retention on leaf vegetables (Amaranthus) despite washing. The accumulation of trace elements in the edible parts of vegetables and foods could have a direct impact on the health of local people, because the foods produced from gardens are mostly consumed locally.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Estimation Of Soil Dust In Foodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ……………………………………………………………2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Uptake of trace elements by food crops grown within the Kilembe copper mine catchment, Western Uganda

Mwesigye

Young

Bailey

et al. 2019

Journal of Geochemical Exploration

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“…Such effects are likely to bring about potential risks to both human health through the food chain and environmental quality and safety through secondary pollution [12]. Therefore, heavy metals are persistent and accumulative, which can pose potential risks to ecosystem and human health [13][14]. Ecological risk assessment is an effective tool to evaluate the impact of chemical contaminants on ecosystems [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological risk assessment and source identification of heavy metal pollution in vegetable bases of Urumqi, China, using the positive matrix factorization (PMF) method

et al. 2020

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Heavy metal pollution is a widespread problem and strongly affects human health through the food chain. In this study, the overall pollution situation and source apportionment of heavy metals in soil (Hg, Cd, As, Pb, Ni, Zn, Cu and Cr) were evaluated using various methods including geo-accumulation index (I geo), potential ecological risk index (RI) and positive matrix factorization combined with Geographical Information System (GIS) to quantify and identify the possible sources to these heavy metals in soils. The results of I geo showed that this farmland top soil moderate contaminated by Hg, other selected elements with noncontamination level. And the average RI in the top soil was 259.89, indicating a moderate ecological risk, of which Hg and Cd attributed 88.87% of the RI. The results of the PMF model showed that the relative contributions of heavy metals due to atmospheric depositions (18.70%), sewage irrigations (21.17%), soil parent materials (19.11%), industrial and residential coal combustions (17.43%) and agricultural and lithogenic sources (23.59%), respectively. Of these elements, Pb and Cd were came from atmospheric deposition. Cr was attributed to sewage irrigations. As was mainly derived from the soil parent materials. Hg originated from industrial and residential coal combustions, and most of the Cu, Zn and Ni, except for Pb, were predominantly derived from agricultural and lithogenic sources. These results are important in considering management plans to control the aggravation of heavy metal pollution and ultimately to protect soil resources in this region. In addition, this study enhances the understanding of heavy metal contamination occurrence in agroecosystem that helps predicting and limiting the potential of heavy metal exposure to people and ecosystem.

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Do Crops Grown at Urban Dumpsites Contain Metals at Levels that Pose Unacceptable Health Risks to Consumers?

Awino,

Maher,

Fai

2024

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Excessive dietary metal intake from crops grown on contaminated urban dumpsites poses a global health risk to consumers. We evaluated the health risk to adult and child consumers from dietary exposure to metals and metalloids in crops cultivated at the Mbale (Uganda) dumpsite centre. Thirteen crop types grown on the dumpsite soil were sampled and analyzed for concentrations of 11 metals: Fe, Al, Zn, Mn, Cu, Pb, Cr, Hg, Co, Ni, Cd, and two metalloids: Se and As. Different proportions of the crops were combined into 12 meal classes to simulate the diets of residents and estimate noncancer and cancer risks. The findings indicated that most individual crop types and simulated diets lacked sufficient selenium for bodily functions. Furthermore, their metal accumulations exceeded the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limits (mg/kg) for Al (20), Fe (100), Ni (10), Cu (20), Mn (10), Pb (0.3), Se (0.05), and Zn (99.4). The four most abundant metals in the various crop types and diets were Al, Fe, Mn, and Zn. A positive correlation between the metals in the crops indicated a common origin, which could possibly be the dumpsite soil. The chronic dietary intake (CDI) of metals was higher in children, and thus children faced higher noncancer and cancer risks compared with adults. The overall CDI values for each metal ranged from 0.000718 to 2.171 in adults, and 0.00125 to 3.781662 in children, which is approximately 1.74 times higher in children than in adult consumers. The noncancer and cancer risks ranged from moderate to high with Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, and Zn being mostly responsible for the high noncancer risks, and Al being the predominant contributor to cancer risks. The total noncancer risk levels equally ranged from moderate (1.4–3.3) for adults, and moderate to high (2.4–5.7) for children; the cancer risks were moderate to high in adults, with Al contributing to between 68% and 92% of the total risks across the 12 meal classes. Overall, CDI values and noncancer and cancer risks were all higher in children than in adults. The vegetables Amaranthus hybridus, Vigna unguiculate, Amaranthus dubius, and Cucurbita maxima significantly contributed to the high noncancer risk to both adults and children, particularly when they constituted 40% or more of the meal. Four additional vegetables (Cocorhrous olitorous, Brassica oleracea, Amaranthus cruentus, and Gynandropsis gynandra) also posed a high risk to children when consumed in large quantities. Our results highlight the urgent need to develop regulatory frameworks and/or rigorously enforce existing land and food governance policies to protect consumers' health from unsafe metal concentrations in crops grown on dumpsites. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;00:1–17. © 2024 The Author(s). Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

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Population exposure to trace elements in the Kilembe copper mine area, Western Uganda: A pilot study

Cited by 44 publications

References 22 publications

Uptake of trace elements by food crops grown within the Kilembe copper mine catchment, Western Uganda

Uptake of trace elements by food crops grown within the Kilembe copper mine catchment, Western Uganda

Ecological risk assessment and source identification of heavy metal pollution in vegetable bases of Urumqi, China, using the positive matrix factorization (PMF) method

Do Crops Grown at Urban Dumpsites Contain Metals at Levels that Pose Unacceptable Health Risks to Consumers?

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