Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess heavy metal contamination in soil, plants, earthworms, and chicken in farmlands adjacent to an old mining site and to evaluate the potential exposure risks to humans through the consumption of chicken. For this purpose, soil, earthworms, plant, chickens, and eggs were sampled from 5 sites following a gradient of contamination. All samples were analyzed for heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn). A food chain model was used in order to characterize heavy metal transfer between soil-plant-earthworm and chicken organs. Furthermore, target hazard quotient (THQ), estimated daily intake (EDI), and hazard index (HI) were employed to assess human health risks posed by heavy metal contamination. Despite the higher level of Pb, our data related to the calculation of EDI and THQ suggested that local consumers are more at risk of Cd contamination. The calculated HI showed values ranging from 2.58 to 4.74 for adults, and up to 12.34 for children, indicating a considerable risk to the health of local inhabitants, especially children. This study highlighted the crucial role of diets based on chickens grown in contaminated areas, on health risks especially for children.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by funds from the Ministry of Higher Education, Research Laboratory Agrobiodiversity, and Ecotoxicology (LR21AGR02). The authors thank the University of Tunis Al Manar, Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Tunis, Doctoral School “Sciences et Technologies du Vivant et Sciences de la Terre” for the Research fellowship to the student who developed the research.
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Sameh Elkribi-Boukhris (SEB): data curation; formal analysis; investigation; roles/writing—original draft; writing—review and editing
Naceur M’hamdi (NM): data curation; formal analysis; investigation; writing
Iteb Boughattas (IB): formal analysis; investigation; supervision
Sondes Helaoui (SH): formal analysis
Cecile Coriou (CC): formal analysis
Sylvie Bussiere (SB): formal analysis
Valerie Sappin-Didier (VS): data curation; funding acquisition; methodology; resources; supervision; validation; roles/writing—original draft; writing—review and editing
Mohamed Banni (MB): data curation; funding acquisition; methodology; resources; supervision; validation; roles/writing—original draft; writing—review and editing
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Elkribi-Boukhris, ., M’hamdi, N., Boughattas, I. et al. Assessment of heavy metal pollution transfer and human exposure risks from the consumption of chicken grown in mining-surrounding areas. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 5661–5673 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15995-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15995-9