Determination of heavy metals in indoor dust from Istanbul, Turkey: Estimation of the health risk

Abstract

Levels of eight potentially toxic heavy metals in indoor dust from homes and offices in Istanbul were investigated. The concentrations of heavy metals in indoor dust from homes+office ranged from 62 to 1800μgg−1 for Cu, 3–200μgg−1 for Pb, 0.4–20μgg−1 for Cd, 210–2800μgg−1 for Zn, 2.8–460μgg−1 for Cr, 8–1300μgg−1 for Mn, 2.4–25μgg−1 for Co, 120–2600μgg−1 for Ni. Results of the study were comparable to other studies conducted on indoor dust and street dust from a variety of cities globally. Considering only ingestion + inhalation, the carcinogenic risk level of Cr for adults and children (3.7×10−5 and 2.7×10−5) in Istanbul was in the range of EPA's safe limits (1×10−6 and 1×10−4), indicating that cancer risk of Cr due to exposure to indoor dust in Istanbul can be acceptable. According to calculated Hazard Quotient (HQ), for non-cancer effects, the ingestion of indoor dust appears to be the major route of exposure to the indoor dust that results in a higher risk for heavy metals, followed by dermal contact and inhalation pathways. However, compared to ingestion and dermal contact exposure, exposure through inhalation is almost negligible. Hazard Index (HI) values for all studied elements were lower than safe limit of 1 and this result suggested that none of the population groups would likely to experience potential health risk due to exposure to heavy metals from indoor dust in the study area.