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Carcinogenic risk evaluation for human health risk assessment from soils contaminated with heavy metals

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Abstract

Human activities have progressively increased in recent years. Consequently, significant environment deterioration resulted. Soils have a particularly varied vulnerability to heavy metal pollution, especially in the vicinity of industrial areas. Heavy metal contamination of soil may induce risks and hazards to humans and the ecosystem, while toxic metals in soil can severely inhibit the biodegradation of organic contaminants. This paper is focused on human health risk assessment from extremely contaminated soil with heavy metals, mainly with carcinogenic elements. The study refers to an agricultural area in the vicinity of an old metallurgical processing industrial facility. The contaminants evaluated in the present paper are beryllium (Be), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni) and lead (Pb). Contamination level is pointed out through laboratory analysis results of soil samples taken from 0–0.2 m, 0.2–0.4 m soil layers and up to 2.1 m soil depth. Some heavy metal concentrations (Cd, Cr and Pb) exceed the intervention thresholds for sensitive areas, as they are stipulated in the national regulation in Romania. The identified average concentration levels of Cd, CrVI and Pb in the first layer of the investigated land are 23.83, 7.71 and 704.22 mg/kgd.w, respectively. The results show that the potential risk of human health is relevant (higher than the acceptable one after World Health Organization) and a possible solution for the remediation should become a major concern for the investigated area.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the SOP IEC POSCCE-A2-O2.1.2.-2009-2, RECOLAND ID519, SMIS-CSNR: 11982, ctr. 182/18.06.2010, PNII-RU-TE2014-4-2348/REMPET Project, ctr. no 354/01.10.2015 and by the Erasmus + Programme, EduLabFrame project, contract no 2014-1-RO01-KA203-002986.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energy Production and Use, Faculty of Power Engineering, University POLITEHNCA of Bucharest, Splaiul Independenţei no 313, 006042, Bucharest, Romania

    D. M. Cocârţă

  2. Minister of Environment, Waters and Forests, Libertăţii Blv. 12, Sector 5, 040129, Bucharest, Romania

    S. Neamţu

  3. National Institute for Research and Development in Environmental Protection, Spl. Independenţei, 294, Sector 6, 060031, Bucharest, Romania

    A. M. Reşetar Deac

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  1. D. M. Cocârţă
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Correspondence to D. M. Cocârţă.

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Cocârţă, D.M., Neamţu, S. & Reşetar Deac, A.M. Carcinogenic risk evaluation for human health risk assessment from soils contaminated with heavy metals. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 13, 2025–2036 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-016-1031-2

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