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Sources of toxic elements in indoor dust sample at export processing zone (EPZ) area: Dhaka, Bangladesh; and their impact on human health

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Abstract

In industrial areas, increased human activities generate high emissions of metals that contaminate the environment, and eventually affect human health. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the sources of toxic elements in indoor dust samples, and to evaluate possible health risks due to expose of human body through dermal contact, inhalation, and ingestion. A total 36 indoor dust samples were collected from the windows of twelve (12) industrial buildings, which are facing the main roads in the biggest export process zone (DEPZ) in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. The indoor dust samples were analyzed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique for the determination of Cu, Zn, As, Pb, Fe, Cr, Co, Ni, K, Ca, Ti, Rb, and Sr. This investigation revealed that Cu, Zn, Pb, Fe, and Sr concentrations were slightly higher in various degree than that of the background value in soil recommended by the Chinese Environmental Protection Administration (CEPA). Subsequently, ANOVA (α = 0.05, p < 0.001) test and %RSD values (33% to 168%) showed that the concentrations of these metals were present non-homogeneously in different sampling points. However, statistical analysis and several geochemical indices have been proposed that these heavy metals might be come in indoor dust samples because of anthropogenic events. This investigation also showed that the most-extreme permissible hazard index (HIs) levels known as non-cancer risk for As, Mn, and Zn because of dust exposure in the study area were below than that of the safe limit (HI = 1) but with an exception of Pb (HI = 1.9E+00) for children. On the other hand, the degree of cancer-causing risk linked with exposure to arsenic in indoor dust (i.e., 0.502E-06 to 0.121E-05) falls within the range of threshold values (10−6 to 10−4). Therefore, following USEPA health risk models, it has been suggested that these metals present in indoor dust samples might not have significant impact on causing non-cancer and cancer risk to children and to adult at this moment in the DEPZ area, Bangladesh. However, a continuous monitoring should be needed to assess more accurately the non-cancer and cancer risk to children and adult.

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Data Availability

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13167-3. However, any information/source data would be available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors also thank to the staffs of Atmospheric & Environmental Chemistry Laboratory of Chemistry Division, Atomic Energy Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Funding

The work reported here was supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, Vienna, Austria) under Regional Cooperative Agreement (RCA) project RAS/7/029 and RCARO (Supporting sustainable air pollution monitoring using Nuclear Analytical Technology).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Division, Atomic Energy Centre Dhaka (AECD), Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Shahbag, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh

    M. Safiur Rahman, Yeasmin Nahar Jolly, Shirin Akter, Tasrina Rabia Choudhury & Bilkis Ara Begum

  2. Departmanet of Physics, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, 1342, Bangladesh

    Noshin Anjum Kamal & Rubina Rahman

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  1. M. Safiur Rahman
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  2. Yeasmin Nahar Jolly
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Contributions

M Safiur Rahman: conceptualization, investigation and data curation, formal analysis, visualization, software utilization, writing–original draft, writing–review and editing, final approval of the manuscript; Y.N. Jolly and S. Akter: investigation, analysis the samples, data curation; N.A. Kamal: collection of indoor dust samples, preparation of sample pellet for XRF analysis, compiling the data; R. Rahman: supervision of the student; T.R. Choudhury: literature review, drafting initial manuscript; and B.A. Begum: supervision, visualization, validation, investigation, IAEA project administration, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to M. Safiur Rahman.

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Rahman, M.S., Jolly, Y.N., Akter, S. et al. Sources of toxic elements in indoor dust sample at export processing zone (EPZ) area: Dhaka, Bangladesh; and their impact on human health. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 39540–39557 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13167-3

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