Health Risk Assessment of Metals via Multi-Source Oral Exposure for Children Living in Areas with Intense Electronic Manufacturing Activities

Beibei Wang, Chunye Lin, Hongguang Cheng, Xiaoli Duan, Qin Wang and Dongqun Xu
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Beibei Wang: School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Chunye Lin: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Hongguang Cheng: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Xiaoli Duan: School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Qin Wang: Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute of Environmental Health and Related Product Safety, Beijing 100021, China
Dongqun Xu: Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute of Environmental Health and Related Product Safety, Beijing 100021, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-12

Abstract: Oral ingestion is the predominant pathway of metal(loid)s exposure. In this study, the health risks of typical metal(loid)s (including Mn, As, Cr, Cd, and Pb) via multi-source, oral pathways for children aged 3–12 years, living in an area of China dominated by the electronic manufacturing industry, were studied based on the field sampling of duplicated diet, soil, and drinking water. Child-specific ingestion parameters were measured (except the soil ingestion rates, which were from a previous study of the same population), and a Monte Carlo method was applied to determine the uncertainty of the risk assessment. It was observed that children living in such environments were at risk of metal(loid)s exposure, with the accumulative carcinogenic risk exceeding the maximum acceptable level. Food intake was identified to be the primary exposure pathway. Moreover, Pb and Cr were the major risk elements to local children’s health. Compared with primary school students, kindergarten children experienced a higher risk. This study highlights that high attention should be paid to children living in suburban areas dominated by the electronic manufacturing industry, and that priority should be given to studies on metal(loid)s exposure deriving from different types of food and their corresponding bioavailability, in order to further discern the precise risk sources to protect children’s health.

Keywords: health risk; children; multi-source ingestion exposure; metal(loid)s; electronic manufacturing activities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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