Heavy Metal Contamination in Rice-Producing Soils of Hunan Province, China and Potential Health Risks

Fanfu Zeng, Wei Wei, Mansha Li, Ruixue Huang, Fei Yang and Yanying Duan
Additional contact information
Fanfu Zeng: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China
Wei Wei: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China
Mansha Li: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China
Ruixue Huang: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China
Fei Yang: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China
Yanying Duan: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-10

Abstract: We studied Cd, Cr, As, Ni, Mn, Pb, and Hg in three agricultural areas of Hunan province and determined the potential non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks for residents. Soil and brown rice samples from Shimen, Fenghuang, and Xiangtan counties were analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Soil levels of Cd and Hg were greatest, followed by As and Ni. The mean concentrations of heavy metals in brown rice were Cd 0.325, Cr 0.109, As 0.344, Ni 0.610, Mn 9.03, Pb 0.023, and Hg 0.071 mg/kg, respectively. Cd and Hg had greater transfer ability from soil to rice than the other elements. Daily intake of heavy metals through brown rice consumption were estimated to be Cd 2.30, Cr 0.775, As 2.45, Ni 4.32, Pb 0.162, Mn 64.6 and Hg 0.503 µg/(kg·day), respectively. Cd, Hg and As Hazard Quotient values were greater than 1 and Cd, Cr, As and Ni Cancer Risk values were all greater than 10 −4 . The total non-carcinogenic risk factor was 14.6 and the total carcinogenic risk factor was 0.0423. Long-term exposure to heavy metals through brown rice consumption poses both potential non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks to the local residents.

Keywords: heavy metal; soil-rice system; risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/12/15005/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/12/15005/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:12:p:15005-15593:d:60216

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().