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Assessment of potential health risk for inhabitants living near a former lead smelter. Part 2: site-specific human health risk assessment of Cd and Pb contamination in kitchen gardens

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Abstract

Metal contamination of urban soils and homegrown products has caused major concern. In Part 1, we investigated the long-term effects of a former smelter on the degree of kitchen garden-soil contamination and the quality of the homegrown vegetables from these gardens. The results showed that the soils retained a high level of contamination and that a large proportion of the vegetables produced did not comply with the legislation on the levels of metals allowed for human consumption. The present study aims to assess the associated potential health risk to local inhabitants through consumption of homegrown vegetables and ingestion of soil particles using a land use-based approach. For lead (Pb), the standard hazard quotient (HQ)-based risk assessment method was used to determine the HQ. For cadmium (Cd), the approach consisted of calculating the HQs and then deriving site-specific assessment criteria (SSAC) using the SNIFFER method. The results suggested that the exposure pathways considered should not engender any form of deleterious health effects for adults. For children, Pb was the main concern and induced a relatively high health risk through soil particle ingestion, and most total soil Cd concentrations exceeded the derived SSAC, in particular, through consumption of vegetables. The metal bioaccessibility in soils was incorporated into the methods to establish more realistic risk assessment measures. This study proposes an approach to integrate different human health risk assessment methods. Further investigations should complete the assessment to improve risk determination, e.g., the determination of metal bioaccessibility in vegetables.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the gardeners who participated in the investigations. The study was supported by a grant from the Région Nord-Pas de Calais.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Lille Nord de France, 59000, Lille, France

    Aurélie Pelfrêne & Francis Douay

  2. Groupe ISA, Equipe Sols et Environnement, Laboratoire Génie Civil et géo-Environnement Lille Nord de France (LGCgE), EA 4515, 48 boulevard Vauban, 59046, Lille Cedex, France

    Aurélie Pelfrêne & Francis Douay

  3. Laboratoire d’Analyses des Sols, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 273 rue de Cambrai, 62000, Arras, France

    Antoine Richard

  4. Département Sites et Sols pollués, ADEME, 21 rue du Grésillé, 49000, Angers, France

    Hélène Roussel

  5. Délégation Régionale Nord-Pas de Calais, ADEME, 20, rue du Prieuré, 59500, Douai, France

    Bertrand Girondelot

Authors
  1. Aurélie Pelfrêne
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  2. Francis Douay
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  3. Antoine Richard
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  4. Hélène Roussel
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  5. Bertrand Girondelot
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Correspondence to Aurélie Pelfrêne.

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Pelfrêne, A., Douay, F., Richard, A. et al. Assessment of potential health risk for inhabitants living near a former lead smelter. Part 2: site-specific human health risk assessment of Cd and Pb contamination in kitchen gardens. Environ Monit Assess 185, 2999–3012 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-2767-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-2767-x

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