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Hair Trace Elements Concentration to Describe Polymetallic Mining Waste Exposure in Bolivian Altiplano

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Abstract

Severe polymetallic contamination is frequently observed in the mining communities of Bolivian Altiplano. We evaluated hair trace elements concentrations at the population level to characterise exposure profile in different contexts of contact with mining and metallurgical pollution. We sampled 242 children aged 7 to 12 years in schools from five Oruro districts located in different contexts of potential contamination. Hair trace elements concentrations were measured using ICP-MS (Pb, As, Hg, Cd, Sb, Sn, Bi, Ag, Ni, Se, Cu, Cr, Mn, Co and Zn). We compared concentration according to school areas and gender. Concentrations were markedly different depending on school areas. Children from schools near industrial areas were far more exposed to non essential elements than children from downtown and suburban schools, as well as the rural school. The most concentrated non-essential element was Pb (geometric means (SD): 1.6 (1.3) µg/g in rural school; 2.0 (2.3) µg/g in suburban school; 2.3 (3.0) µg/g in downtown school; 14.1 (2.7) µg/g in the mine school and 21.2 (3.3) µg/g in the smelter school). Boys showed higher levels for all non-essential elements while girls had higher levels of Zn. Hair trace elements concentrations highlighted the heterogeneity of exposure profiles, identifying the most contaminated districts.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the authorities of Oruro for welcoming the study. We are grateful to Sonia Ignacio, Ronald Lopez, Selma Luna and Aurélien Radufe for their participation in field activities. We are especially grateful to the teachers and parents of the children who accepted the study and the children who participated. We would also like to thank Dr. Sara Perez, Director of SELADIS Institute, for her support. We thank Dr. Jose Centeno and Dr. David Point for their critical review of the draft. This study received support from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR, France), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD, France) and SELADIS (Bolivia) as part of the ToxBol project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Servicios de Laboratorio de Diagnóstico e Investigaciones en Salud (SELADIS), Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia

    Flavia Laura Barbieri & Jacques Gardon

  2. IRD Institut de Recherche pour le Développement–Hydrosciences, Montpellier, France

    Flavia Laura Barbieri, Amandine Cournil, Eric Bénéfice & Jacques Gardon

  3. Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil

    Jorge Eduardo Souza Sarkis

Authors
  1. Flavia Laura Barbieri
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  2. Amandine Cournil
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  3. Jorge Eduardo Souza Sarkis
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  4. Eric Bénéfice
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  5. Jacques Gardon
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Correspondence to Jacques Gardon.

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Barbieri, F.L., Cournil, A., Souza Sarkis, J.E. et al. Hair Trace Elements Concentration to Describe Polymetallic Mining Waste Exposure in Bolivian Altiplano. Biol Trace Elem Res 139, 10–23 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-010-8641-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-010-8641-1

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