Residential metal contamination and potential health risks of exposure in adobe brick houses in Potosí, Bolivia

Abstract

Potosí, Bolivia, is the site of centuries of historic and present-day mining of the Cerro Rico, a mountain known for its rich polymetallic deposits, and was the site of large-scale Colonial era silver refining operations. In this study, the concentrations of several metal and metalloid elements were quantified in adobe brick, dirt floor, and surface dust samples from 49 houses in Potosí. Median concentrations of total mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), and arsenic (As) were significantly greater than concentrations measured in Sucre, Bolivia, a non-mining town, and exceeded US-based soil screening levels. Adobe brick samples were further analyzed for bioaccessible concentrations of trace elements using a simulated gastric fluid (GF) extraction. Median GF extractable concentrations of Hg, As, and Pb were 0.085, 13.9, and 32.2% of the total element concentration, respectively. Total and GF extractable concentrations of Hg, As, and Pb were used to estimate exposure and potential health risks to children following incidental ingestion of adobe brick particles. Risks were assessed using a range of potential ingestion rates (50-1000mg/day). Overall, the results of the risk assessment show that the majority of households sampled contained concentrations of bioaccessible Pb and As, but not Hg, that represent a potential health risk. Even at the lowest ingestion rate considered, the majority of households exceeded the risk threshold for Pb, indicating that the concentrations of this metal are of particular concern. To our knowledge, this is the first study to quantify key trace elements in building materials in adobe brick houses and the results indicate that these houses are a potential source of exposure to metals and metalloids in South American mining communities. Additional studies are needed to fully characterize personal exposure and to understand potential adverse health outcomes within the community.

Health effects of arsenic exposure in Latin America: An overview of the past eight years of research

“…Using 123 and 26 hair samples collected from children from non-industrial urban and smelter areas respectively, the authors found higher risk of exposure for smelter community children indicated by higher Z score (p<0.001) (Goix et al, 2011a). In Potosi, another study sampled adobe brick, dirt floor, and dust from mining and control sites showing positive correlations between adobe brick and dirt floor samples for total As (r = 0.57) (McEwen et al, 2016). Results also suggested an ingestion rate at or above 200 mg/day of combined soildust particles containing As in 1 and 6 year old children to be associated with potential health risk in mining communities (McEwen et al, 2016).…”

“…In Potosi, another study sampled adobe brick, dirt floor, and dust from mining and control sites showing positive correlations between adobe brick and dirt floor samples for total As (r = 0.57) (McEwen et al, 2016). Results also suggested an ingestion rate at or above 200 mg/day of combined soildust particles containing As in 1 and 6 year old children to be associated with potential health risk in mining communities (McEwen et al, 2016).…”

Global trends of interstitial lung diseases from 1990 to 2019: an age–period–cohort study based on the Global Burden of Disease study 2019, and projections until 2030

“…Workplace exposure contributes substantially to the burden of multiple chronic respiratory diseases, such as IPF, for instance, has a population-attributable fraction of 26% ( 34 ). In addition to the high ILD burden, participants in a study living in proximity to mining sites near Potosi, Bolivia, had higher frequencies of hypertension, hematuria, and ketonuria, and the majority of adobe brick houses in Potosi, Bolivia, contained concentrations of bio-accessible Pb and As, which represent a potential health risk ( 35 , 36 ). Therefore, effective measures are urgently required to protect residents from contaminated environments.…”

Unraveling the impacts of droughts and agricultural intensification on the Altiplano water resources

“…Mining activity contributes to the contamination of water (French et al, 2017;Salvarredy-aranguren et al, 2008), soil (Garrido et al, 2017;Hagan et al, 2011), and aerosols (Goix et al, 2016(Goix et al, , 2011. These contaminations directly threaten the environmental stability (Guédron et al, 2017;Monroy et al, 2014) and represent a potential health hazards for the local population (Barbieri et al, 2011;Goix et al, 2016Goix et al, , 2011Mcewen et al, 2016;Stassen et al, 2012). Besides the contamination effects, mining activity also contributes to the decrease in TWS.…”