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Evaluation of Pb concentrations in selected vegetables and portable drinking water, and intelligent quotients of school children in Ishiagu—a Pb mining community: health risk assessment using predictive modelling

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Abstract

This study evaluates the concentrations of lead (Pb) in 6 selected vegetables and drinking water samples taken from an agricultural/mining town Ishiagu. This evaluation is important because these vegetables and water are major gateway of lead exposure through ingestion, especially children in the Pb mining environment. Pb at even very low concentrations has been shown to have adverse effect on developing brain and hence children’s intellectual ability. The impact of lead-contaminated food/water intake on the cognitive function was focused on school children whose parents have lived in the Pb mining town for over 25 years before they were born. Non-invasive, “target risk quotient” (TRQ) methodology, based on the principle of predictive toxicology was adopted for our analysis. Samples of these vegetables harvested in July and August 2015, and water taken from homes at 4 different villages in Ishiagu town and neighbouring community Akaeze (control), were subjected to appropriate chemical treatment/digestion procedures and the concentrations of Pb determined using AA-700 Shimadzu model atomic absorption spectrophotometer. From 642 structured questionnaire administered to the teachers/children, the daily vegetable ingestion rates for each vegetable (mg/child/day) and estimated daily intakes (EDI) of lead were obtained. The results show that the concentrations of Pb in water samples and the 6 vegetables harvested from the lead mining town vary as distances increase from the mining sites while the total target hazard quotients (TTHQs) for the vegetable crops were greater than one (˃ 1). The cognitive functions of 160 school children (aged 6–8 years), sampled from 265 families based on their meeting the criteria for distances away from the mining site, were evaluated using Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices and psychometrics. The data generated were analysed using (SPSS) version 21.0 and results expressed as mean ± standard deviation of intelligent quotient (IQ). Students’ t tests for independent samples were used to compare the IQ results for children in the lead mining area and non-mining area. A model based on predictive toxicology paradigm which can show a relationship between concentrations of lead in vegetables/water and cognitive function was developed. This model shows that there is a positive correlation between total lead concentrations in vegetables/water and children’s cognitive function.

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Acknowledgements

This research did not receive any specific grant or funding agencies from any organization except travelling grant from SETAC World Council which enabled one of us (Dr C N Onwurah) to present the preliminary results of this investigation at the 7th SETAC World Congress/SETAC North America 37th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, November 6–10, 2016. However, we sincerely appreciate all the teachers in the Primary Schools in Ishiagu who were involved in one way or the other in making this work a reality, together with all the parents of the children for lending their support. We particularly thank Ebube Madueke of the Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu, for assistance in securing the data on the population of the children and Ishiagu community from Ivo Local Government Authority of Ebonyi State and mapping (GIS) of the study area. We also wish to thank the two reviewers who did a thorough job that resulted in giving the manuscript a better outlook.

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  1. Childhood and Environmental Education Research Group, Department of Educational Foundations, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

    Ibiwari C. Dike, Chimezie N. Onwurah & Uche Uzodinma

  2. Pollution Control and Biotechnology Unit, Department of Biochemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

    Ikechukwu N. Onwurah

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  1. Ibiwari C. Dike
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Dike, I.C., Onwurah, C.N., Uzodinma, U. et al. Evaluation of Pb concentrations in selected vegetables and portable drinking water, and intelligent quotients of school children in Ishiagu—a Pb mining community: health risk assessment using predictive modelling. Environ Monit Assess 192, 126 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-8071-2

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