Human health risk assessment of lead, cadmium, and mercury co-exposure from agricultural soils in the Tuzla Canton (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Exposure parameters	Description	Values	References
BW	Average body weight* (kg)	82.78 for adult males	Unpublished data**
		62.66 for adult females
		16.20 for children
EF	Exposure frequency (day/year)	350	(41)
CF	Conversion factor (kg/mg)	10^-6	(43)
ED	Exposure duration (years)	30 for adults	(41)
ED	Exposure duration (years)	6 for children	(41)
SA	Skin surface area available for exposure (cm²)	5700 for adults	(41)
SA	Skin surface area available for exposure (cm²)	2800 for children	(41)
AT	Average time	EDx365 for non-carcinogenic 25550 for carcinogenic risk	(43, 69, 70)
SAF	Soil to skin adherence factor (mg/cm²)	0.07 for adults	(41)
SAF	Soil to skin adherence factor (mg/cm²)	0.2 for children	(41)
IngR	Ingestion rate (mg/day)	100 for adults	(41)
IngR	Ingestion rate (mg/day)	200 for children	(41)
InhR	Inhalation rate (m³/day)	20	(41)
PEF	Soil to air particulate emission factor (m³/kg)	1.36 x 10⁹	(41)
ABS_derm	Dermal absorption factor (unitless)	0.001 (for all metals)	(69, 70)
RfD_o	Pb (mg/kg/day)	3.50E-03	(41)
	Cd (mg/kg/day)	1.00E-03
	Hg (mg/kg/day)	3.00E-04
RfD_ABS	Pb (mg/kg/day)	5.25E-04	(41)
	Cd (mg/kg/day)	1.00E-05
	Hg (mg/kg/day)	2.10E-05
RfD_i	Hg (mg/kg/day)	8.57E-05	(49)
CSF	Cd (mg/kg/day)	6.30E-00	(71)

* The average body weight for each population group used for health risk assessment based on deterministic approach.

**** Unpublished data for adults and children presented as mean body weights of randomly chosen 87 male and 80 female adults and 236 1-6-year-old children from the Tuzla Canton

Table 2

Heavy metal levels (mg/kg) and corresponding permitted limit values (PLVs) for sandy agricultural soils

Sampling site	Mean ± SD (mg/kg)*
Sampling site	Pb	Cd	Hg
1	129.75±23.93	0.15±0.05	0.11±0.01
2	69.58±15.69	0.23±0.09	0.08±0.02
3	92.47±8.45	1.61±0.97	1.14±0.59
4	34.53±7.46	0.77±0.58	0.20±0.13
5	44.67±10.09	0.39±0.07	0.06±0.02
6	400.64±284.62	1.03±0.88	0.09±0.02
7	376.67±72.54	0.15±0.02	0.22±0.12
8	48.56±13.94	0.33±0.12	0.06±0.02
9	96.14±27.92	0.16±0.03	0.09±0.08
10	93.94±4.32	0.09±0.02	0.05±0.02
11	98.64±13.57	0.14±0.05	0.08±0.04
12	159.75±18.98	0.31±0.04	0.09±0.05
13	101.78±14.47	0.18±0.06	0.08±0.04
14	440.87±72.83	0.22±0.11	0.11±0.03
15	301.22±66.37	0.07±0.02	0.08±0.02
16	1724.45±854.87	0.29±0.05	0.29±0.11
17	61.89±15.09	0.53±0.03	0.25±0.03
18	51.14±4.19	1.67±0.11	0.57±0.02
19	154.00±7.99	0.21±0.04	0.05±0.01
20	45.69±9.05	0.18±0.01	0.10±0.03
21	118.86±3.36	0.38±0.02	0.08±0.04
22	44.69±7.41	0.09±0.01	0.05±0.02
23	28.81±3.28	1.12±0.10	0.14±0.01
24	16.86±3.63	2.45±0.18	0.18±0.05
25	143.55±6.90	0.68±0.05	0.08±0.01
26	75.39±7.12	2.99±0.31	1.55±1.12
27	143.92±28.74	0.51±0.07	0.13±0.01
28	33.5±4.41	1.36±0.15	0.16±0.01
29	35.81±5.45	1.35±0.08	0.20±0.01
	Maximum permitted limit value (mg/kg)
PLV	50.00	0.50	0.50

* Each result is presented as the average of 36 measurements. Three samples were taken from each site in each season of the year. Each of the 12 samples from the 29 sites was analysed in triplicate. Bolded figures indicate values greater than the respective permitted limit values (PLVs)

Table 3

Comparison of soil heavy metal levels in the Tuzla Canton across studies

Pb (mg/kg)		Cd (mg/kg)		Hg (mg/kg)		Year of soil sampling	References
Min	Max	Min	Max	Min	Max	Year of soil sampling	References
18.00	24.00	0.20	0.40	N/A	N/A	2005	29
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.23	65.5	2004	30
8.02	26.01	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	2018	9
22.60	41.04	1.29	2.43	N/A	N/A	2017	31
17.20	36.09	0.00	1.86	0.00	27.35	2013	32
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.00	3864.00	2013	33
14.14	190.82	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	34
18.00	92.00	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	35
14.33	2784.00	0.05	3.67	0.03	2.73	2016-2017	This study

Table 4

Deterministic non-cancer risk due to Pb, Cd, and Hg exposure through soil

Heavy metal	Oral intake (mg/kg/day)	Oral risk (unitless)	Dermal intake (mg/kg/day)	Dermal risk (unitless)	Inhalation intake (mg/kg/day)	Inhalation risk (unitless)
Pb	Adult men (Scenario 1)
	2.06E-04	5.90E-02	8.24E-07	1.57E-03	3.04E-08	8.67-E06
	Adult women (Scenario 2)
	2.73E-04	7.79E-02	1.09E-06	2.07E-03	4.01E-08	1.15E-02
	Children (Scenario 3)
	6.03E-01	4.29E-02	5.91E-06	1.13E-02	1.55E-07	4.43E-05
Cd	Adult men (Scenario 1)
	7.84E-07	7.84E-04	3.13E-09	3.13E-04	1.15E-10	1.15E-07
	Adult women (Scenario 2)
	1.04E-06	1.04E-03	4.13E-09	4.13E-04	1.52E-10	1,52E-07
	Children (Scenario 3)
	8.01E-06	8.01E-03	2.24E-08	2.24E-03	5.89E-10	5.89E-07
Hg	Adult men (Scenario 1)
	2.55E-07	8.49E-04	1.02E-09	4.84E-05	3.74E-11	4.37E-07
	Adult women (Scenario 2)
	3.36E-07	1.12E-03	1.34E-09	6.39E-05	4.95E-11	5.77E-07
	Children (Scenario 3)
	2.60E-06	8.68E-03	7.29E-09	3.47E-04	1.91E-10	2.23E-06

Table 5

Hazard indices for Pb, Cd, and Hg and Cd cancer risk due to exposure of adult and children populations through soil in the Tuzla Canton

Scenario	HI				Cancer risk (Cd, unitless)
Scenario	Pb	Cd	Hg	Total	Cancer risk (Cd, unitless)
Adult men (Scenario 1)	6.06E-02	1.10E-03	8.98E-04	6.26E-02	3.11E-10
Adult women (Scenario 2)	8.00E-02	1.45E-03	1.19E-03	8.26E-02	4.11E-10
Children (Scenario 3)	6.14E-01	1.03E-02	9.03E-03	7.26E-01	3.18E-10

Table 6

Summary of health risk assessment for three exposure scenarios based on the Monte Carlo simulation.

Scenario	Concentration	HI (unitless)				Cancer risk
Scenario	Concentration	Pb	Cd	Hg	Total	(Cd, unitless)
1	Mean	6.68E-02	1.14E-03	8.67E-04	6.88E-02	3.11E-10
	75^th percentile	5.66E-02	1.28E-03	8.46E-04	5.87E-02	5.15E-10
	95^th percentile	2.09E-01	4.08E-03	2.53E-03	2.16E-01	1.16E-09
	Max	1.86E+01	3.46E-02	6.43E-02	1.87E+01	1.69E-09
2	Mean	8.07E-02	1.48E-03	1.19E-03	8.34E-02	4.11E-10
	75^th percentile	7.24E-02	1.68E-03	1.13E-03	7.52E-02	6.80E-10
	95^th percentile	2.46E-01	5.27E-03	3.57E-03	2.55E-01	1.53E-09
	Max	1.17E+01	2.99E-02	2.99E-01	1.2E+01	2.23E-09
3	Mean	7.64E-01	1.18E-02	1.00E-02	7.86E-01	3.18E-10
	75^th percentile	6.07E-01	1.28E-02	9.50E-03	6.29E-01	5.27E-10
	95^th percentile	2.24E+00	4.21E-02	3.22E-02	2.31E+00	1.18E-09
	Max	2.19E+02	6.28E-01	1.24E+00	2.21E+02	1.73E-09

Hazard indices for Pb by Scenarios 1 (men), 2 (women), and 3 (children)

Hazard indices for Cd by Scenarios 1 (men), 2 (women), and 3 (children)

Hazard indices for Hg by Scenarios 1 (men), 2 (women), and 3 (children)

References

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aiht-2021-72-3533 | Journal eISSN: 1848-6312 (formerly 0004-1254) | Journal ISSN: 0004-1254

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Language: English, German

Page range: 268 - 279

Submitted on: Feb 1, 2021

Accepted on: Dec 1, 2021

Published on: Dec 30, 2021

Published by: Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

cancer risk,

deterministic methodology,

heavy metals,

Monte Carlo simulations,

non-cancer risk,

probabilistic methodology

Related subjects:

Medicine,

Basic medical science,

Basic medical science, other

© 2021 Maida Šljivić Husejnović, Saša Janković, Dragica Nikolić, Biljana Antonijević, published by Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Volume 72 (2021): Issue 4 (December 2021)

Human health risk assessment of lead, cadmium, and mercury co-exposure from agricultural soils in the Tuzla Canton (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

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Table 1

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Table 4

Table 5

Table 6

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