Second-Hand Infant Care Plastic Products Sold in Markets of Kalar City, Kurdistan Region, Iraq: Heavy Metals Contamination and Risk Assessment

Abstract

In this study, health risk assessment and contamination have been performed of fourteen toxic heavy metals in six second-hand plastic infant care products collected from markets of Kalar city, Kurdistan region of Iraq. Second-hand infant care plastic products might impose serious health concerns if they contain high levels of heavy metals. The toxic heavy metal elements concentrations have been identified and analyzed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICPOES, Spectro Arcos). Many of the investigated products contain considerable or high levels of the examined heavy metals according to the European Union EU safety limits for brittle, pliable, liquid and sticky toy materials. The highest level of heavy metals has been noticed was of zinc 10643.4 mg/kg in sample ST1 (183% higher than the allowable limit). High concentrations of lead Pb, mercury Hg, and chrome Cr have also detected. Statistical analysis of Pearson correlation matrix CM, and hierarchical cluster analysis HCA found significant correlations between many heavy metals and infant care samples respectively. Health risk assessment for sample ST6 identified a moderate significant hazard index regarding heavy metals of arsenic, mercury, and cobalt with HI values of 0.5652, 0.2967 and 0.1211 respectively. This work leads thus safety measure is respected in the investigated infant care samples. Furthermore, stringent procedures are needed to limit the handling and importing of such products into the markets in the future.