Health risk assessment of abandoned agricultural soils based on heavy metal contents in Hong Kong, the world's most populated city.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the consequence of changing and using agricultural soils to other purposes in Hong Kong with respect to risk to human health. This study established concentrations of the following priority elements: As, Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb and Zn in terms of total burden (using mixed acid microwave digestion) and with respect to metal bioaccessibility (using an in vitro simulated gastric solution). 55 locations were sampled representing 12 different land use types, namely, agricultural (A), abandoned agricultural (Ab), organic farm (OF), container storage (CS), construction waste (CW), e-waste storage (EW (S)), e-waste dismantling workshop (EW (DW)), e-waste open burning site (EW (OBS)), open burning site (OBS), petrol station (PS), metal recycling workshop (MRW) and car dismantling workshop (CDW). The elemental concentrations were subsequently used to establish Hazard Indices (for adults and children). 95th percentile values of total elemental concentrations were used to derive a combined (ingestion, dermal and inhalation) Hazard Index (HI) only for adults where the EW (DW) land use type indicated the potential for increased harm (HI=1.16). On the other hand, where 5th percentile values of total elemental concentrations were used to derive a combined Hazard Index (HI) for children the HI values exceeded 1 for CS, MRW, PS, EW (DW), EW (OBS) and CDW land use types (respectively, 1.21, 1.19, 1.52, 1.21, 1.81 and 2.04).
Man
Yu Bon
YB
Croucher Institute for Environmental Sciences, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.
Sun
Xiao Lin
XL
Zhao
Yin Ge
YG
Lopez
Brenda Natalia
BN
Chung
Shan Shan
SS
Wu
Sheng Chun
SC
Cheung
Kwai Chung
KC
Wong
Ming H
MH
D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis; D002104:Cadmium / Q000032:analysis; D002648:Child; D002857:Chromium / Q000032:analysis; D003300:Copper / Q000032:analysis; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000032:analysis; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014507:Urbanization; D015032:Zinc / Q000032:analysis
D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002104:Cadmium; D002857:Chromium; D007854:Lead; D003300:Copper; D015032:Zinc; D001151:Arsenic