Metal levels in waste pickers in Brasilia, Brazil: hair and nail as exposure matrices

ABSTRACT

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to compare workplace conditions and metal exposures in 431 waste pickers who worked nearby at the Estrutural Dump in Brasilia utilizing hair (n = 310) and nail (n = 355) as matrices of exposure. Waste pickers were grouped according to their workplace (open waste dump: G1 and sorting plants: G2). Hair and nail samples were collected and analyzed using ICP-MS. The work duration in the facilities was significantly different between the groups with averages of 16.46 (8.48) yrs and 9.26 (6.28) yrs for hair donors in G1 and G2, and 15.92 (7.72) yrs and 8.55 (5.77) yrs for toenail donors in G1 and G2, respectively. The arithmetic means (μg/g) of cadmium, copper, lead, and manganese in hair were significantly higher in G2 (0.076 ± 0.133; 19.61 ± 18.16; 2.27 ± .56 and 3.87 ± 5.59, respectively) compared to G1 (0.069 ± 0.235; 15.72 ± 15.18; 1.72 ± 4.04 and 3.65 ± 5.5, respectively). Concentrations of arsenic, barium, cadmium, copper, cobalt, lead, manganese, and molybdenum in nail were significantly higher in G2 (0.57 ± 0.39; 22.74 ± 42.06; 0.1 ± 0.08; 22.7 ± 51.60; 0.48 ± 0.45; 4.69 ± 9.43; 19.07 ± 20.75; 1.80 ± 1.76, respectively) compared to G1 (0.40 ± 0.28; 15.32 ± 22.31; 0.08 ± 0.11; 11.91 ± 16.25; 0.37 ± 0.37; 3.94 ± 15.04; 13.01 ± 19.08; 1.16 ± 1.80, respective. Our findings suggest that the studied population was exposed to toxic metals and indicates the need for chemical exposure prevention policies to monitor chemical risk exposures in waste pickers.

KEYWORDS:

• Waste pickers
• metal exposure
• nails
• hair
• Brazil

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their gratitude to the University of Brasília; the partnership with School of Health Sciences (ESCS); the Government of the Federal District (GDF) and State Secretariat of Health of the Federal District, Brasilia (SESDF); the Primary Healthcare Center where the study was carried out; The Federal District’s Urban Cleaning Service, Solid Waste Recycling Cooperatives and the waste pickers who participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15287394.2023.2276372

Informed consent statement

Any research article describing a study involving humans should contain this statement. Please add “Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. Written informed consent has been obtained from the patient(s) to publish this paper.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board (or Ethics Committee) the Fundação de Ensino e Pesquisa em Ciências da Saúde (FEPECS) of Brasília, under protocol number 2.051.163 1 date of approval. May, 8^th-2017 All participants provided written informed consent, according to the National Health Council Resolution 466/2012.

Additional information

Funding

“This research was funded by BeCOH (Belgian Center for Occupational Hygiene) that was responsible for all the sample analysis and CAPES (Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement) – for Michelly Gonçalves Rodrigues master’s degree fellowship. FAPDF (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Distrito Federal) for publication fee support and Technological Development (CNPQ), which supported one axis of the study by providing a post-doctoral internship grant.