Exposure of school children to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals and radionuclides in the urban soil of Kragujevac city, Central Serbia

Zhang

et al. 2018

IJERPH

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants, presenting potential threats to the ecological environment and human health. Sixty-two urban soil samples were collected in the typical semi-arid city of Xi’an in Northwest China. They were analyzed for concentration, pollution, and ecological and health risk of sixteen U.S. Environmental Protection Agency priority PAHs. The total concentrations of the sixteen PAHs (Σ16PAHs) in the urban soil ranged from 390.6 to 10,652.8 µg/kg with an average of 2052.6 µg/kg. The concentrations of some individual PAHs in the urban soil exceeded Dutch Target Values of Soil Quality and the Σ16PAHs represented heavy pollution. Pyrene and dibenz[a,h]anthracene had high ecological risk to aquatic/soil organisms, while other individual PAHs showed low ecological risk. The total ecological risk of PAHs to aquatic/soil organisms is classified as moderate. Toxic equivalency quantities (TEQs) of the sixteen PAHs varied between 21.16 and 1625.78 µg/kg, with an average of 423.86 µg/kg, indicating a relatively high toxicity potential. Ingestion and dermal adsorption of soil dust were major pathways of human exposure to PAHs from urban soil. Incremental lifetime cancer risks (ILCRs) of human exposure to PAHs were 2.86 × 10−5 for children and 2.53 × 10−5 for adults, suggesting that the cancer risk of human exposure to PAHs from urban soil is acceptable.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concentration and Risk Evaluation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Urban Soil in the Typical Semi-Arid City of Xi’an in Northwest China

Zhang

et al. 2018

IJERPH

Journal of Radiation Research and Applied Sciences

“…where t is the annual exposure time (8760 h). The excess lifetime cancer risk outdoors (presented in Table 2) was calculated as follows (Stajic, Milenkovic, Pucarevic, Stojic, & Vasiljevic, 2016)…”

Section: The Annual Effective Dose Equivalent and Excess Lifetime Canmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural radioelement concentrations in fertilizers and the soil of the Mila region of Algeria

Bramki

Ramdhane

Benrachi

2018

The addition of inorganic fertilizers to treat crop soil and increase its production has become a necessity and a tool used around the world. These fertilizers contain different quantities of uranium and thorium. Therefore, tons of radionuclides from natural radioactive series 238 U, 235 U and 232 Th are dispersed in the environment due to a high use of fertilizer in agriculture. In this work, the radioactivity levels were determined in two fertilizers and in fertilized and unfertilized soil samples collected at various depths from the Algerian agricultural region of El-Athmania Mila, using high resolution gamma ray spectroscopy. The activity concentrations of 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K for fertilized and unfertilized soil samples were found unchanged as a function of depth and ranged from 23.72

“…Investigations on the health risk of children arising from the presence of metals in the environment were carried out so far mainly in playgrounds and urban parks of larger agglomerations with industrial facilities (De Miguel et al 2007 ; Figueiredo et al 2011 ; Namik et al 2012 ; Verla et al 2015 ). The subjects of these studies included soils (Diatta and Grzebisz 2011 ; Figueiredo et al 2011 ; Guney et al 2010 ; Stajic et al 2016 ; Verla et al 2015 ), urban dusts (Boldo et al 2006 ; Kicińska and Bożęcki 2017 ; Khaniabadi et al 2016 ; Lim et al 2011 ; Mazzei et al 2008 ; Yu et al 2013 ; Wang et al 2016 ; Zhang et al 2015 ) and road dusts (Du et al 2013 ; Ferreira-Baptista and De Miguel 2005 ). Only subordinate are the papers devoted to pollution of health resorts and their playing grounds, not saying on sandboxes and the sand that fills them (Jasiewicz et al 2009 ; De Miguel et al 2007 ; Nieć et al 2013 ), although these facilities are most willingly used by children playing outdoor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heavy metals in sands of sandboxes: health risk associated with their quantities and form of occurrence in some spas of Poland

Kicińska

Mamak

Skrzypek

2017

Environ Sci Pollut Res

The authors dealt with some hazardous elements, i.e. As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn, contained in sands of the sandboxes localized in playgrounds of seven spas in southern Poland (CEE). The following determinations were made: the total contents of metals, the most mobile metals (water-leachable fraction) and the metals available to plants and organisms (CaCl2- and EDTA-extractable fractions). The totals of the metals are below the upper limits of the values recommended for soils of the protected areas (type A). The mobility of the metals is low: the forms leachable with water range from 0.7% of the total content (TC) of Pb to 13.4% TC of Cd. The forms available to living organisms contain considerably higher quantities of the metals: from 2.3% TC of Ni to 22.6% TC of As in CaCl2-extractable fractions and from 0.7% TC of Cr to 82% TC of As in EDTA-extractable fractions. An assessment of the health risk indicates that children are exposed to the metals present in the sandboxes mostly due to inadvertent swallowing of “dirt” from their hands. The highest are the HQingestion indexes of As and Cr, both for the 3-year-old permanent spa residents (5.74E−02 and 1.71E−02, respectively) and the spa visitors of the same age (7.47E−03 and 2.22E−03, respectively) and the 6-year-old residents (4.31E−02 and 1.28E−02, respectively) and visitors (5.60E−03 and 1.66E−03, respectively). The health risk indexes HI in the case of non-cancerogenic substances for children 3 and 6 years old are for spa residents, 9.59E−02 and 7.19E−02, respectively, and for children visitors, who are exposed to environmental factors for a much shorter time than the residents, 1.25E−02 and 9.35E−03, respectively. All the risk indexes have their values significantly below 1, which proves the lack of deleterious effects resulting from the exposition of children to the elements considered. The children of both age groups, exposed to the cancerogenic substances, are endangered mainly by As. The risk values of the cancerogenic As for 3- and 6-year-old children residents are 1.27E−06 and 1.90E−06, respectively, and for children visitors of the same ages 1.65E−07 and 2.47E−07, respectively. These values are significantly lower than a permissible level of "1∙10E-05" and means that also in this case, the health risk is minimal. The risk values calculated for the remaining metals are much lower and follow the sequence Cr > Co > Cd. However, an adverse impact of some sand-contained pollutants that are attributed to the motor traffic (Cu, Zn, Ni, Cr, Co and Pb) and low emissions (mainly As and Cd) has been established in the spa resorts in question.