Abstract
Pollution is an act of contaminating the environment by harmful or toxic substances that could be of solid, liquid or gaseous materials. Effluents containing heavy metals that are indiscriminately discharged into the environment pollute the ecosystem and pose great risks to the organisms in it. Here, we review effluent discharged from a pharmaceutical industry in Awka, Anambra state, Nigeria and analyzed for heavy metal pollution. The twenty heavy metals analyzed were: magnesium, calcium, zinc, copper, Nickel, Cobalt, Iron, chromium, sodium, aluminum, vanadium, potassium, silver, manganese, mercury, cadmium, lead, molybdenum, selenium and arsenic. The heavy metals were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (model 240FS AA). The study presented the several risks and environmental effects associated with heavy metal toxicity. The environmental risk assessment was performed in which the chronic daily intake through ingestion for adults was calculated. The hazard quotient (HQ) for non-carcinogenic risk assessment and cancer risk assessment were also calculated. The obtained HQ values for Pb (7.857), Hg (4.333×101), As (1.867×102), Ni (4.521×102), Cr (3.333), Al (5.753), Mo (11), Ag (1.13) and Se (19) were greater than 1 and they were in the order: Se > Mo > Pb > Al > Ni > Hg > Cr > As > Ag. This means that the population is exposed to health risks with non-carcinogenic effects from this study. Metals with HQ values less than 1 were Cd (0.425), Fe (0.346), Zn (0.199), Cu (0.123), Mn (0.023) and Co (0.011). Cancer risk assessment was also carried out based on Pb, As, Ni, Cr and Cd with values 3.887 × 10-5, 3.6 × 10-2, 3.526, 2.184 × 10-3 and 2.73 ×10-3 respectively and nickel (Ni) proved to be the highest contributor to cancer risk in this study. Long term exposure to heavy metals possesses both potential non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks to the local residents.
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