A method was proposed to evaluate comprehensive effects of pHs and total metal concentration (TMC) variation for metal speciation human health risk in groundwater. The method used for the health assessment considered comprehensive and mutative effects caused by oral ingestion of groundwater based on human health risk assessment model and MINTEQ simulation. The results demonstrated that the dissolution rate of Ni2+ was affected by pH and Ni total concentration (total-Ni). With the increase of pH, the Ni2+ dissolved rate was smaller in the higher total-Ni at same pH. Ni2+ was dominant components contributed to health risk in groundwater. With the increase of pH in various total-Ni, HINi keep constant at first, and then decreased gradually. The HINi values of Ni speciation above acceptable level only in high total-Ni with alkaline conditions. The obtained results to verify that metals speciation were determined in health risk, and variation factors (pH and metal total concentration) played important role in risk estimation. These results provide basic information of heavy metal pollution control as well as remediation management.

Emission of hazardous trace elements (HTEs) from energy production is receiving much attention due to concerns about the toxicity to the ecosystem and human health. This study presented new field measurement data on the HTEs partitioning behavior and size-segregated elemental compositions of gaseous particular matter (PM) generated from a commercial circulating fluidized bed (CFB) power plant. Mineralogical and morphological characteristics of combustion ash and PM2.5 (particle diameter less than 2.5 μm) were determined by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). Functional groups alteration during CFB combustion was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The presence of aliphatic hydrogen at 2910 cm−1 and 2847 cm−1 in the PM2.5 suggested that the aliphatic carbon-rich volatiles were absorbed on the fine particles with large surface area. Fine fly ash (PM2.5) occurred as irregular glass particles or/and as unburned carbon. The typical irregular particles were mainly composed of Al-Si-Ca or Al-Si-Fe phases. The enrichment behavior of HTEs was determined for the airborne size-segregated particular matter. Elemental occurrences, combustion temperature, unburnt carbon, and limestone additives during CFB combustion were critical in the transformation behavior of HTEs. The total potentially mobile pollutants that exit the CFB power plant every year were estimated as follows: 0.22 tons of Cr, 0.12 tons of Co, 0.73 tons of Ni, 0.04 tons of As, 0.07 tons of Se, 3.95 kg of Cd, and 3.34 kg of Sb.

Because most chickens are reared in intensive farms, where a range of feed additives are used routinely, concerns have been raised on the potential public health risk of chicken product consumption. This study was conducted to characterize the contents of trace metals in fresh chicken tissues (354 samples) on the food markets in Guangdong province of southern China, a major region of chicken production with heavy per capita chicken consumption, and to assess the public health risk from chronic dietary exposure to the trace metals through chicken consumption. With the exception of Cr, Ni, and Pb, the contents of trace metals were generally higher in the chicken giblets (livers, gizzards, hearts, and kidneys) compared to muscles (breasts and drumsticks). Chicken tissues from the urban markets generally contained higher levels of As, Cu, Mn, and Zn than those from the rural markets, while the contents of Pb were typically higher in the chicken muscles from the rural markets. Results of statistical analyses indicate that Cu, Zn, and As in the chicken tissues derived mainly from the feeds, which is consistent with the widespread use of Cu, Zn, and phenylarsenic compounds as feed supplements/additives in intensive poultry farming. No non-carcinogenic risk is found with the consumption of fresh chicken meat products on the food markets, while approximately 70% of the adult population in Guangzhou and 30% of those in Lianzhou have bladder and lung cancer risk above the serious or priority level (10⁻⁴), which arises from the inorganic arsenic contained in the chicken tissues. These findings indicate that the occurrence of inorganic arsenic at elevated levels in chicken tissues on the food markets in Guangdong province poses a significant public health risk, thus the use of phenylarsenic feed additives in China's poultry farming should be significantly reduced and eventually phased out.

In this study, we conducted an assessment of polyurethane foam (PUF) passive sampling for metals combining active sampling. Remarkably, we found that the metals collected in the passive samples differed greatly from those collected in active samples. By composition, Cu and Ni accounted for significantly higher proportions in passive samples than in active samples, leading to significantly higher uptake rates of Cu and Ni. In assessing seasonal variation, metals in passive samples had higher concentrations in summer (excluding Heshan), which differed greatly from the pattern of active samples (winter > summer), indicating that the uptake rates of most metals were higher in summer than in winter. Overall, due to the stable passive uptake rates, we considered that PUF passive samplers can be applied to collect atmospheric metals. Additionally, we created a snapshot of the metal pollution in the Pearl River Delta using principal component analysis of PUF samples and their source apportionment.

Metal concentrations (As, Cd, Pb, Cr, Ba, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn) in conventional and organic produce were assessed, specifically, five most-consumed vegetables from the US including potato, lettuce, tomato, carrot and onion. They were from four representative supermarkets in a college town in Florida. All vegetables contained detectable metals, while As, Cd, Pb, Cr, and Ba are toxic metals, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn are nutrients for humans. The mean concentrations of As, Cd, Pb, Cr and Ba in five vegetables were 7.86, 9.17, 12.1, 44.8 and 410 μg/kg for organic produce, slightly lower than conventional produce at 7.29, 15.3, 17.9, 46.3 and 423 μg/kg. The mean concentrations of Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn in five vegetables were 3.86, 58.5, 632, and 2528 μg/kg for organic produce, comparable to conventional produce at 5.94, 68.2, 577, and 2354 μg/kg. For toxic metals, the order followed tomato < lettuce < onion < carrot < potato, with root vegetables being the highest. All metals in vegetables were lower than the allowable concentrations by FAO/WHO. Health risks associated with vegetable consumption based on daily intake and non-carcinogenic risk based on hazard quotient were lower than allowable limits. For the five most-consumed vegetables in the US, metal contents in conventional produce were slightly greater than organic produce, especially for Cd and Pb.

Substantial evidence has linked short-term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) with increased cardiovascular mortality, however, the specific chemical constituent and emission source responsible for this effect remained largely unclear. A time series Poisson model was employed to quantify the association of cardiovascular mortality with two sets of shipping pollution emission: nickel (Ni), vanadium (V) (the indices of shipping emission) and estimated shipping emission using a source apportionment approach in Guangzhou, China in 2014. We observed that Ni, V, and estimated shipping emission in PM2.5 were associated with increased cardiovascular mortality, an inter-quartile range (IQR) increase in lag2 Ni was associated with 4.60% (95% CI: 0.14%, 9.26%) increase in overall cardiovascular mortality, and 13.35% (95% CI: 5.54%, 21.75%) increase in cerebrovascular mortality; each IQR increase of lag1 V was correlated with 6.01% (95% CI: 1.83%, 10.37%) increase in overall cardiovascular mortality, and 11.02% (95% CI: 3.15%, 19.49%) increase in cerebrovascular mortality; and each IQR increase in lag1 shipping emission was associated with 5.55% (95% CI: 0.78%, 10.54%) increase in overall cardiovascular mortality, and 10.39% (95% CI: 1.43%, 20.14%) increase in cerebrovascular mortality. The results remained robust to adjustment for PM2.5 mass and gaseous air pollutants. This study suggests that shipping emission is an important detrimental factor of cardiovascular mortality, and should be emphasized in air pollution control and management in order to protect the public health in Guangzhou, China.

Ants accumulate heavy metals and respond to pollution with modification in species composition, community structure, altered behaviour and immunity. However, the levels of heavy metals in ants’ nests and explicit individual-level responses towards heavy metals have not been revealed. We found that red wood ants Formica lugubris accumulate high and correlated values of such heavy metals as Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn both in ants and nest material near cobalt smelter in Finland. Relative differences in metal concentrations were higher in nests than in ants. The highest values were obtained for elements such as Co (36.6), Zn (14.9), Cd (9.7), Pb (8.5), Cu (7.4), Ni (6.4), As (4.7), Cr (2.9) and Fe (2.4) in nest material, and Co (32.7), Cd (6.3), Pb (6), Fe (2.8), Ni (2.9) and Zn (2.1) in ants. In industrial and reference areas, ants have no differences in size, but differed in dry and residual body mass. In polluted areas, F. lugubris had less melanised heads, but not thoraxes. The sensitivity of cuticular colouration in red wood ants subjected to heavy metal pollution might be related to metal-binding properties of melanins. The overall results are useful for the improvement of biomonitoring techniques using ants as indicators of industrial contamination and for further discovery of novel ecotoxicological biomarkers.

The ubiquity of pollutants, such as agrochemicals and heavy metals, constitute a serious risk to human health. To evaluate the induction of DNA damage and programmed cell death (PCD), root cells of Allium cepa and Vicia faba were treated with two organophosphate insecticides (OI), fenthion and malathion, and with two heavy metal (HM) salts, nickel nitrate and potassium dichromate. An alkaline variant of the comet assay was performed to identify DNA breaks; the results showed comets in a dose-dependent manner, while higher concentrations induced clouds following exposure to OIs and HMs. Similarly, treatments with higher concentrations of OIs and HMs were analyzed by immunocytochemistry, and several structural characteristics of PCD were observed, including chromatin condensation, cytoplasmic vacuolization, nuclear shrinkage, condensation of the protoplast away from the cell wall, and nuclei fragmentation with apoptotic-like corpse formation. Abiotic stress also caused other features associated with PCD, such as an increase of active caspase-3-like protein, changes in the location of cytochrome C (Cyt C) toward the cytoplasm, and decreases in extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) expression. Genotoxicity results setting out an oxidative via of DNA damage and evidence the role of the high affinity of HM and OI by DNA molecule as underlying cause of genotoxic effect. The PCD features observed in root cells of A. cepa and V. faba suggest that PCD takes place through a process that involves ERK inactivation, culminating in Cyt C release and caspase-3-like activation. The sensitivity of both plant models to abiotic stress was clearly demonstrated, validating their role as good biosensors of DNA breakage and PCD induced by environmental stressors.

The work was conducted to establish contamination from improper disposal of hazardous wastes containing lead (Pb) and antimony (Sb) into nearby soils. Besides other elements in the affected area, the biological role of Sb, its behaviour in the pedosphere and uptake by plants and the food chain was considered. Wastes contained 139532 ± 9601 mg kg−1 (≈14%) Pb and 3645 ± 194 mg kg−1 (≈0.4%) Sb respectively and variability was extremely high at a decimetre scale. Dramatically high concentrations were also found for As, Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, Sn and Zn. In adjacent natural soils metal(oid)s amounts decreased considerably (Pb 5034 ± 678 mg kg−1, Sb 112 mg kg−1) though largely exceeded the directives for a given soil use. Metal(oid)s potential mobility was assessed by using H2O→KNO3→EDTA sequential extractions, and EDTA extracts showed the highest concentration suggesting stable humus-metal complexes formation. Nevertheless, selected plants showed high absorption potential of the investigated elements. Pb and Sb values for Dittrichia viscosa grown in wastes was 899 ± 627 mg kg−1 and 37 ± 33 mg kg−1 respectively. The same plant showed 154 ± 99 mg kg−1 Pb and 8 ± 4 mg kg−1 Sb in natural soils. Helichrysum stoechas had 323 ± 305 mg kg−1 Pb, and 8 ± 3 mg kg−1 Sb. Vitis vinifera from alongside vineyards contained 129 ± 88 mg kg−1 Pb and 18 ± 9 mg kg−1 Sb, indicating ability for metal uptake and warning on metal diffusion through the food chain. The biological absorption coefficient (BAC) and the translocation factor (TF) assigned phytoextraction potential to Dittrichia viscosa and Foeniculum vulgare and phytostabilization potential to Helichrysum stoechas. Dissolved metal (oid)s in the analysed water strongly exceeded the current directive being a direct threat for livings. Data warned against the high contamination of the affected area in all its compartments. Even though native plants growing in metal-contaminated sites may have phytoremediation potential, high risk of metal diffusion may threat the whole ecosystem.

Soil contamination due to atmospheric deposition of metals originating from smelters is a global environmental problem. A common problem associated with this contamination is the discrimination between anthropic and natural contributions to soil metal concentrations: In this context, we investigated the characteristics of soil contamination in the surrounding area of a world class smelter. We attempted to combine several approaches in order to identify sources of metals in soils and to examine contamination characteristics, such as pollution level, range, and spatial distribution. Soil samples were collected at 100 sites during a field survey and total concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn were analyzed. We conducted a multivariate statistical analysis, and also examined the spatial distribution by 1) identifying the horizontal variation of metals according to particular wind directions and distance from the smelter and 2) drawing a distribution map by means of a GIS tool. As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn in the soil were found to originate from smelter emissions, and As also originated from other sources such as abandoned mines and waste landfill. Among anthropogenic metals, the horizontal distribution of Cd, Hg, Pb, and Zn according to the downwind direction and distance from the smelter showed a typical feature of atmospheric deposition (regression model: y = y0 + αe−βx). Lithogenic Fe was used as an indicator, and it revealed the continuous input and accumulation of these four elements in the surrounding soils. Our approach was effective in clearly identifying the sources of metals and analyzing their contamination characteristics. We believe this study will provide useful information to future studies on soil pollution by metals around smelters.