Health risk assessment in urban parks soils contaminated by metals, Rio Grande city (Brazil) case study

Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

Flavio Manoel Rodrigues da Silva Júnior¹  Rodrigo de Lima Brum¹  Edariane Menestrino Garcia¹  Paula Florêncio Ramires²  Marina dos Santos²  Júlia Oliveira Penteado² 

[1] Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências da Saúde, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Brazil;Laboratório de Ensaios Farmacológicos e Toxicológicos, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brazil;

关键词: Human health risk assessment;    Urban soil;    Playgrounds;    Metals;    USEPA;    Children;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Soils and artificial surfaces of urban parks can be contaminated by toxic substances and offer risk to the human health, especially to children. Rio Grande city, southern Brazil, is a peculiar site from the point of view of environmental contamination, since the current levels of contamination reflect an accumulation of different polluting sources started in the 18th century up to the urban and industrial sources of the present. The history of Hg contamination refers to the use of Hg salts in textile activities in the 18th century and the consequent use of contaminated sediments to land urban areas. The current contamination involves metals such as Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn is related to the high degree of urbanization in the city, as well as the petrochemical and fertilizer industry. The study aimed to achieve a human health risk assessment of urban parks soils, specifically for Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn. To carry out the risk assessment using the USEPA model, three urban parks with a history of contamination were studied, using different soil exposure pathways (oral, dermal and inhalation) in the carcinogenic (Ni and Pb) and non-carcinogenic (Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn) scenarios for children and adults. The non-carcinogenic risk of Pb was found in the three urban parks studied, for children and Hg in two urban parks. Pb and Ni showed no carcinogenic risk. Even so, the high non-carcinogenic risk of Hg and Pb showed that the contamination of the past and the present are found in the urban parks of Rio Grande city, putting the health of children who use these collective spaces at risk.

【 授权许可】

Unknown