Assessment of the Health Risks Associated with the Ingestion of Heavy Metals (As, Cd, Cr, Pb, Ni, Zn, Hg) in Vegetable Crops in the City of Daloa (Ivory Coast)

Abstract

In order to assess the health risks associated with the ingestion of heavy metals or trace metal elements (TME) contained in foodstuffs from market garden crops, we sampled the tomato, cabbage, onion and leaves of 'onions and lettuce grown in the lowlands of the town of Daloa. The concentrations of ETM contained in these market garden products were determined by an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) using three methods such as the flame method (Zn), the oven method (Pb, Cd, As, Cr, Ni) and the hydride (Hg) method. The results obtained showed that the heavy metals studied are present in fruits and vegetables with the most important Zn, Cr and Ni contents. However, metals such as arsenic, mercury and zinc present a concentration higher than that of the standard in force for the foodstuffs studied. Thus, the consumption of market garden products from cultivated soils in the areas studied could present dangers for the exposed population. Indeed, the study of the health risks associated with the ingestion of these vegetables has shown that for arsenic and zinc the determined Danger Quotient are all greater than 1. Which means that these vegetable crops present risks. related to the ingestion of zinc and arsenic. this means that the exposed population is theoretically out of danger. The values obtained from the Health Impact (SI) are all less than 1 for the population surveyed. On the other hand, for the estimated population of the city of Daloa we observe an IS> 1.