Metal poisoning and human health hazards due to contaminated salad vegetables

Abstract

The consumption of salad vegetables grown in industrial areas may create adverse affects on human health by causing serious diseases and impairment of the vital organs of human body. To determine the concentrations of toxic metals such as, As, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Sb and Se in salad vegetables namely tomato, cabbage, turnip, radish, carrot, onion, salad leaves, beet and cucumber, the samples were collected within the vicinity of industrial areas of Faisalabad and Gujranwala regions. After processing, the samples were analyzed using neutron activation analysis (NAA) technique. The highest concentrations were observed for arsenic (2.3 ± 0.02 μg/g) in radish, manganese (16 ± 1.3 μg/g) in salad leaves, selenium (0.2 ± 0.02 μg/g) in cabbage and antimony (0.08 ± 0.001 μg/g) in salad leaves respectively which were also higher than those recommended by the National Environmental Quality Control (NEQC) standards and World Health Organization (WHO). Moreover, the amounts of injurious arsenic (2.3 μg/g) and selenium (0.4 μg/g) in all salad vegetables according to standard values of NEQS are two to four times higher (1.0 and 0.1 μg/g), respectively.