Human health risk assessment associated with Co, Cr, Mn, Ni and V contents in agricultural soils from a Mediterranean site

Abstract

Potentially toxic element contents in agricultural soils were assessed by comparison with levels recorded in the literature and evaluated using Index of Geoaccumulation (I_geo). The model recommended by United States Environment Protection Agency is applied for the health risk assessment from different exposure pathways. The median values of cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) exceeds about 2, 3 and 14 times, respectively, the corresponding values given by the Geochemical Atlas of Europe project, however, they present low potential ecological risk. The median values of manganese (Mn) and vanadium (V) are slightly lower than the corresponding values given by the Geochemical Atlas of Europe project. Risk assessment results present negligible health risk to children and adults due to manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) and vanadium (V) exposure through ingestion of contaminated soil. Only the cobalt (Co) hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) for children around two sampling sites exceed the acceptable safe risk level.

Keywords:

• trace elements
• health risk assessment
• cobalt

Acknowledgements

The author wish to acknowledge and thank Dr Dimitra Gamvroula for kindly providing valuable data for this study. The kind support and encouragement of Dr Heidrun Beschow is gratefully acknowledged. The author is thankful to the two reviewers for their constructive comments which greatly improved this paper. The help and advice of Mr Fredrick Dolislager, RAIS Program and Content Manager, is also gratefully acknowledged.