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Human Health and Ecological Risks Associated with Total and Bioaccessible Concentrations of Cadmium and Lead in Urban Park Soils

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Abstract

This study investigated the total and bioaccessible concentrations of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in urban soils and their associated human health and ecological risk. Total and bioaccessible metal concentrations were found within the safe limits except for Cd, surpassing the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) China limit in 9.5% of parks. Bioaccessible concentrations were higher in the gastric (G) phase than the intestinal (I) phase, while Cd showed more bioaccessibility compared to Pb. Bioaccessible concentrations reduced Hazard Quotient (HQing) values by 2–22 times and 0–2 times for children and adults, respectively, while hazard index (HI) declined by 1.7 times, and the mean total bioaccessible risk of Pb decreased by 20.8 times. Further, the study revealed a low level of contamination factor (CF < 1) and a low degree of contamination (CD < 6), and Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI) values for all the cities were less than 150, indicating low ecological risk.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support is provided by Higher Education Commission (HEC) Islamabad, Pakistan, under the indigenous program (PIN No. 112-23334-2PS1-4221) and Hainan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (422RC601). The contributions of Mark Brussseau were supported by the NIEHS SRP (P42 ES04940).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Ecology & Environment, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China

    Muhammad Amjad Khan & Qing Huang

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, 25120, Pakistan

    Muhammad Amjad Khan, Anwarzeb Khan, Neelum Ali & Sardar Khan

  3. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Muhammad Amjad Khan & Mark L. Brusseau

  4. Department of Environmental Sciences, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, Pakistan

    Javed Nawab

  5. Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, 25120, Pakistan

    Shah Nawaz Khan

  6. College of Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China

    Saraj Bahadur

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  1. Muhammad Amjad Khan
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Khan, M.A., Nawab, J., Khan, A. et al. Human Health and Ecological Risks Associated with Total and Bioaccessible Concentrations of Cadmium and Lead in Urban Park Soils. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 110, 61 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-023-03703-x

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