Abstract
Heavy metals are shown to be a major indoor dusts pollutant. The health risk assessment of Heavy metal contents of dusts collected from classroom corners of some randomly selected public primary schools in Rivers state was carried out. Dust samples from Classroom corners of three (3) Public primary Schools in Obio/Akpor, Eleme, and Ikwerre Local Government Areas (LGAs) was collected and analyzed for Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), and Arsernic (As) using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS, GF, Flame HVG). The heavy metal concentrations obtained from the analysis revealed that mean maximum level for Pb and Cd were obtained from E at 25.39±0.09 and 3.52±0.23 mg kg-1 respectively, while that of Cr and As were obtained from H at 45.24±0.02 and 1.53±0.06 mg kg-1. The minimum levels were observed at E. The Average daily intake Dose (ADDingestion, dermal and inhalation) and corresponding Target Hazard Quotients obtained revealed oral ingestion as major exposure pathway, though with no evidence for non carcinogenic risk/Hazard index (HI), but with children population being more exposed to Life cancer Risks (TLCR) except at F. It is however recommended that same risk assessment be made on agricultural products harvested from Primary School Farms and Borehole water within these regions.
Highlights
The indiscriminate, frequent, deliberate and accidental release of hazardous, harmful substances has become a major source of environmental pollution
The result of this study showed Pb mean levels ranged from 10.26±0.02 to 25.39±0.06 mgKg-1 with highest Pb level observed at E and minimum level at F
It has been reported that Pb may become toxic to plants and animals if their concentrations exceed permissible limits in soil and plant [23], as Pb has the ability to inhibit water imbalance, alter mineral nutrition, enzyme activities, hormonal status and membrane permeability alteration
Summary
The indiscriminate, frequent, deliberate and accidental release of hazardous, harmful substances has become a major source of environmental pollution. This has led to major problem experienced in developing countries as it has to do with improper management of wastes within our environment, which has gone a long way towards contributing to environmental contamination and pollution, making our environment potentially hazardous/risky. Pollutants in indoor dust may be derived from exterior and interior sources which could be anthropogenic in nature. Several studies have shown that indoor dust could act as a carrier of inorganic and organic pollutants such as heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides and polychlorobiphenyls [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
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