Environmental surveillance of commonly-grown vegetables for investigating potential lead and chromium contamination intensification in Bangladesh.

A M M Maruf Hossain,M Imran,H M Al-Jonaed,M Azizul Islam Kazi,M Mustafa Mamun,M Shahidul Islam,M Hasibur Rahman,Syed Fazle Elahi

doi:10.1186/s40064-016-3458-9

Abstract

With regard to previously reported Lead (Pb) and Chromium (Cr) contamination in egg, a semi-quantitative assessment of the general environment of Bangladesh is carried out through nation-wide sampling of commonly grown and consumed vegetables. Five vegetables, namely, White Potato (Solanum tuberosum), Green Cabbage (Brassica oleracea capitata var. alba L.), Red Spinach (Amaranthus dubius), White Radish (Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus), and Green Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) were selected for sampling from all 64 Districts of the country as per their availability during the sampling season. This results in a collection of 292 samples. Due to the necessity of incorporating a wide spectrum of vegetable types (e.g. tuber, brassica, leafy, root, and fruiting vegetables) as well as the need for including the geographic expanse of the whole country, replicates were not accommodated in the study, hence, the study being semi-quantitative in nature. The results do not substantiate evidence of public health risk due to Cr yet, with only 0.69 % of the samples found contaminated with Cr. Pb contamination (concentrations above a health-based guidance value) is found in 29.47 % of the samples; and together with the insight of such contamination likely being non-point origin, communicates on potential public health risk due to Pb as residual effects of extensive ambient atmospheric Pb pollution in recent history of the country. For the purpose of comparison, Cadmium (Cd) contents of the samples are also analyzed. Although there is no extensive Cd pollution history/source in the country, the likely point-source nature of Cd contamination found in 17.83 % of the samples indicates the scope of managing any existing contamination source by directing efforts into the potential point-sources.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-016-3458-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

In recent years, researches report on Pb (Lead) and Cr (Chromium) contamination in pountry egg in Bangladesh
Hossain et al SpringerPlus (2016) 5:1803 basis mean Pb concentration was found to be 8.1611 ppm, which is about 20 times higher than the maximum permissible limit when compared with dry weight basis maximum permissible limit [converted from fresh weight basis maximum permissible limit of 0.1 μg/g set by FAO/WHO (2006)]
From among the 64 Districts of the country, all vegetable types were sampled from 36 Districts, only one and two vegetable types respectively were found available in two Districts, and at least three to four vegetable types were sampled from the remainder 26 Districts

Summary

Introduction

Researches report on Pb (Lead) and Cr (Chromium) contamination in pountry egg in Bangladesh. Hossain et al SpringerPlus (2016) 5:1803 basis mean Pb concentration was found to be 8.1611 ppm, which is about 20 times higher than the maximum permissible limit when compared with dry weight basis maximum permissible limit [converted from fresh weight basis maximum permissible limit of 0.1 μg/g set by FAO/WHO (2006)]. Such a phenomenon was suspected with possible ecotoxicological fate of recent extensive ambient atmospheric Pb pollution in the country (Hossain et al 2010), the residual effects of which was already detected in human body such as blood Pb levels in school-going children (Kaiser et al 2001). The case of Cr contamination had a suspected highly particular route with the use of chrome-tanned skin cut solid waste converted into protein-concentrates that are highly Cr-contaminated, for use in poultry feeds, fish feeds and agricultural application as organic fertilizer (Hossain et al 2007)

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