Health Risk Assessment of Metals via Multi-Source Oral Exposure for Children Living in Areas with Intense Electronic Manufacturing Activities.

Beibei Wang,Chunye Lin,Xiaoli Duan,Qin Wang,Hongguang Cheng,Dongqun Xu

doi:10.3390/ijerph182111409

Abstract

Oral ingestion is the predominant pathway of metal(loid)s exposure. In this study, the health risks of typical metal(loid)s (including Mn, As, Cr, Cd, and Pb) via multi-source, oral pathways for children aged 3–12 years, living in an area of China dominated by the electronic manufacturing industry, were studied based on the field sampling of duplicated diet, soil, and drinking water. Child-specific ingestion parameters were measured (except the soil ingestion rates, which were from a previous study of the same population), and a Monte Carlo method was applied to determine the uncertainty of the risk assessment. It was observed that children living in such environments were at risk of metal(loid)s exposure, with the accumulative carcinogenic risk exceeding the maximum acceptable level. Food intake was identified to be the primary exposure pathway. Moreover, Pb and Cr were the major risk elements to local children’s health. Compared with primary school students, kindergarten children experienced a higher risk. This study highlights that high attention should be paid to children living in suburban areas dominated by the electronic manufacturing industry, and that priority should be given to studies on metal(loid)s exposure deriving from different types of food and their corresponding bioavailability, in order to further discern the precise risk sources to protect children’s health.

Highlights

The objective of this study was to assess the pollution levels and health risks from the oral exposure of metal(loid)s to children living in the suburban area of Shenzhen
The metal(loid)s levels determined in the current study were within the range of those reported in the fifth China total diet study, conducted in Guangdong province (Pb: 0.0001–0.33 mg·kg−1, Cr: 0–0.45 mg·kg−1, Mn: 0.04–11.09 mg·kg−1, Cd: 0.0005–2.599 mg·kg−1, and As: 0–1.4 mg·kg−1 ) [10], but higher than those reported in the second French total diet study (Cd: 0.0008–0.167 mg·kg−1 ; Pb: 0.023–0.113 mg·kg−1 ) [30]
The duplicated plate method, which collected a mixture of food consumed throughout the day, combined the difference in metal(loid)s distribution and dietary patterns across the food types

Summary

Introduction

The chronic exposure to toxic metal(loid)s, such as manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As), is proven to be associated with numerous detrimental health outcomes, including cancer, nervous system disease, visceral organ damage, cardiovascular disease, endocrine disorder, skin damage, and so on [1,2,3,4]. Pb can accumulate in the human skeleton, and move to various target organ systems, such as the kidneys and the brain. The Pb mobilization in bone is associated with the development of several chronic diseases, such as blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and renal disease [5]. More notably, due to the undeveloped immune system and unique activity patterns, such as frequent hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth behavior, children are much more susceptible to metal(loid)s exposure [6]

Objectives

Methods

Results