Toxic metals status in human blood and breast milk samples in an integrated steel plant environment in Central India

Abstract

Owing to its unique nutritional and immunological characteristics, human milk is the most important food source for infants. Breast milk can, however, also be a pathway of maternal excretion of toxic elements. Selected toxic elements (As, Pb, Mn,a Hg and Cd) were determined in human breast milk and blood samples obtained from 120 subjects related to an integrated steel plant environment located in central India. Samples of breast milk and blood from subjects living outside the steel plant environment were also analyzed for comparative study. Higher levels of these toxic elements were found in blood samples as compared to breast milk samples. Plant workers showed the higher presence of these metals in their breast milk and blood samples compared to the residents of the area and the subjects living outside the industrial environment, respectively. Mn, Pb and Hg have shown a higher tendency to associate with blood and breast milk than As and Cd. The order of occurrence of these metals in blood and milk samples thus found is Mn > Pb > Hg > As > Cd.

In which regions is breast-feeding safer from the impact of toxic elements from the environment?

“…As shown in Table 4, the level of toxic elements in breast milk may vary in different countries and regions [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The values adopted in our study are above the some countries' data in spite of they were not on toxic level.…”

Source apportionment of arsenic in atmospheric dust fall out in an urban residential area, Raipur, Central India

“…Increasing severity of dispersion and fallout of fugitive dusts in urban areas of India has shown spontaneous linkage with higher degree of health disorders especially bronchial ailments (Saxena et al, 2008;Quraishi and Pandey, 1995;Sharma and Pervez, 2005, Bohm and Saldiva, 2000Goel and Trivedi, 1998). Due to higher settling tendency of bigger particles of dust fallout fraction near emission sources on a regional scale, researchers have made classification of its reception pattern as ambient-outdoor, streetoutdoor and indoors dust fallout (Dubey and Pervez, 2008;Quraishi and Pandey, 1993;Sharma and Pervez, 2004;Gadkari and Pervez, 2007).…”

Source Apportionment of Atmospheric Dust Fallout in an Urban-Industrial Environment in India

“…Increasing severity of dispersion and fallout of fugitive dusts in urban areas of India has shown spontaneous linkage with higher degree of health disorders especially bronchial ailments (Quraishi and Pandey, 1995;Goel and Trivedi, 1998;Bohm and Saldiva, 2000;Sharma and Pervez, 2003;Sharma and Pervez, 2005;Saxena et al, 2008). Due to higher settling tendency of bigger particles of dust near emission sources on a regional scale, researchers have made classification of its reception pattern as ambient-outdoor, street-outdoor and indoor dust fallout (Quraishi and Pandey, 1993;USEPA 2003;Sharma and Pervez, 2004;Gadkari and Pervez, 2007;Dubey and Pervez, 2008).…”