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Human exposure and risk assessment of cadmium for residents of abandoned metal mine areas in Korea

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Abstract

The objective of this study is to find the Cd levels in agricultural crops compared to soil, to evaluate the relationship between daily intake dose through the multimedia/multi-pathway of human exposure and biomarker levels of the residents in mine vicinity area. We collected and cited the data of four out of ten health impact assessments for the residents of abandoned mine areas undertaken by the Korea Ministry of Environment in 2008. The Cd levels in soil were significantly decreased by the separation distance from the mines. The Cd levels in blood were significantly different between residents in mine areas and in comparative areas, but urinary Cd levels did not differ. The Cd levels in blood were related to the age; the separation distance from mine to residence; the daily intake dose via ingestion of drinking water, crops, and surface soil; and inhalation of ambient air of Cd, but urinary Cd levels were not relevant with various sociodemographic characteristics and exposure factors. The average hazard quotient (HQ) value of Cd in the mining site was below 1.0, but the maximum HQ was closed to 1.0. The results indicated that the ingestion of Cd-contaminated soil and agricultural crops by local inhabitants could pose potential adverse health effects to long-term residents consuming rice grown near to the mining areas.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Korea Ministry of Environment and researchers who performed health impact assessments of closed mines in Korea at 2008.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health, The Institute for Environmental Research, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Jiyeon Yang, Dong-Chun Shin & Young-Wook Lim

  2. Department of Environmental Health, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Eung-Cheol Kim

  3. Spokesperson’s Office, Ministry of Environment, Government Complex-Sejong, 11, Doum 6-Ro, Sejong-si, Republic of Korea

    Eung-Cheol Kim & Seong-Joon Jo

  4. Department of Preventive Medicine College of Medicine, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Dong-Chun Shin

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  1. Jiyeon Yang
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  2. Eung-Cheol Kim
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  3. Dong-Chun Shin
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  4. Seong-Joon Jo
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Correspondence to Young-Wook Lim.

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Yang, J., Kim, EC., Shin, DC. et al. Human exposure and risk assessment of cadmium for residents of abandoned metal mine areas in Korea. Environ Geochem Health 37, 321–332 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-014-9650-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-014-9650-3

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