The effect of emissions on heavy metals concentrations in cattle from the area of an industrial plant in Slovakia.

Abstract

Attention was devoted to the effects of risk element-containing industrial emissions on the biological material of cattle bred on farms in the vicinity of a metallurgical plant in East Slovakia. The observations lasted two years and included four agricultural farms in the polluted area and one control farm outside this area. In 1991, 20, 30, 30, 30, and 30 samples of milk, muscle, liver, heart, and kidney tissue were analyzed, whereas in 1992, 30, 48, 48, 48, and 48 respective samples were taken. For Cu, Zn, Mn, Cd, Pb, and Ni analyses, the AAS method was employed, using the UNICAM 939 device, while Hg residues were determined on the TMA 254 analyzer. In 1991, of a total of 120 samples of tissue and organs, 12.5%, 9.16% and 0.8% were found to contain above-limit levels of Cd, Ni, and Cu, respectively. The concentrations of the remaining elements, viz., Zn, Mn, Pb, and Hg, did not surpass the permitted maxima. In 1992, 1.03%, 2.60%, 0.51%, and 5.20% of 192 samples of tissue and organs contained above-limit Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn levels.