Use of scalp hair as indicator of human exposure to heavy metals in an electronic waste recycling area

Abstract

Human scalp hair samples can be used to indicate environmental and occupational exposure of heavy metals due to intensive electronic waste recycling activities. a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c tScalp hair samples were collected at an electronic waste (e-waste) recycling area and analyzed for trace elements and heavy metals. Elevated levels were found for Cu and Pb with geometric means (GMs) at 39.8 and 49.5 mg/g, and the levels of all elements were found in the rank order Pb > Cu [ Mn > Ba > Cr > Ni > Cd > As > V. Besides Cu and Pb, Cd (GM: 0.518 mg/g) was also found to be significantly higher compared to that in hair samples from control areas. Differences with age, gender, residence status and villages could be distinguished for most of the elements. The high levels of Cd, Cu and Pb were likely found to be originated from e-waste related activities, and specific sources were discussed. This study shows that human scalp hair could be a useful biomarker to assess the extent of heavy metal exposure to workers and residents in areas with intensive e-waste recycling activities.

Spatial characteristics of cadmium in topsoils in a typical e-waste recycling area in southeast China and its potential threat to shallow groundwater

“…Agricultural soil contamination with HMs had become a serious environmental problem because it poses a serious threat to human health by entering into food chains and to environmental security by washing into surface water by rain and leaching into shallow groundwater (Shen and Chen, 2000;Romic and Romic, 2003). Cadmium (Cd) is one of the toxic HMs that was used widely in the electrical and electronic industry, and they were most widely detected in e-waste contaminated surroundings (Shen et al, 2008;Guo et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2009;Chen et al, 2010). Therefore, it is necessary to quantify the spatial characteristics of HM in agricultural soils and evaluate the threat of toxic HMs in topsoils to shallow groundwater by leaching in order to be able to formulate a policy to control or eliminate Cd pollution and ensure shallow groundwater safety.…”

Levels and sources of brominated flame retardants in human hair from urban, e-waste, and rural areas in South China

“…Hair has been used as a bioindicator for human exposure to drugs abuse or metals (Pragst and Balikova, 2006;Wang et al, 2009). Recently the idea of using hair analysis for assessing exposure to POPs has been explored (D 0 Havé et al, 2005).…”

Multivariate Analysis of Trace Elements Distribution in Hair of Pleural Plaques Patients and Health Group in a Rural Area from China

“…Moreover, elements in hair have also been reported to be a reliable and convenient indicator of environmental adaption, and environmental pollution [5][6][7]. These studies indicated that higher levels of Cu, Pb, Zn, and many other elements in human hair were found in the areas contaminated by heavy metals compared with the other areas [8][9][10][11].…”