Identifying dust as the dominant source of exposure to heavy metals for residents around battery factories in the Battery Industrial Capital of China

Mohai Shen; Meihui Ren; Yange Wang; Fangfang Shen; Ruojin Du; Lijun Quan; Ya Wei; Tingting Zhang; Jinghua Li; Guangxuan Yan; Jianbiao Peng; Zhiguo Cao

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144375

Identifying dust as the dominant source of exposure to heavy metals for residents around battery factories in the Battery Industrial Capital of China

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Apr 15:765:144375. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144375. Epub 2020 Dec 25.

Authors

Mohai Shen¹, Meihui Ren², Yange Wang¹, Fangfang Shen¹, Ruojin Du¹, Lijun Quan¹, Ya Wei¹, Tingting Zhang³, Jinghua Li¹, Guangxuan Yan¹, Jianbiao Peng¹, Zhiguo Cao⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China.
² School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China; School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
³ Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China. Electronic address: zhangtt@mail.buct.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China. Electronic address: wq11ab@163.com.

PMID: 33385815
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144375

Abstract

Heavy metals (HMs) are constantly released into the environment during the production and use of batteries. Battery manufacturing has been ongoing for over six decades in the "Battery Industrial Capital" (located in Xinxiang City) of China, but the potential exposure pathways of residents in this region to HMs remain unclear. To clarify the exposure pathways and health risk of human exposure to HMs, hand wipe samples (n=82) and fingernail samples (n=36) were collected from residents (including young children (0-6 years old), children (7-12 years old) and adults (30-60 years old)) living around battery factories. The total concentrations of the target HMs (Zn, Mn, Cu, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cd, Co) in hand wipes ranged from 133 to 8040 μg/m², and those in fingernails ranged from 9.7-566 μg/g. HM levels in the hand wipe and fingernail samples both decreased with age, and higher HM levels were observed for males than females. The HM composition profiles in these two matrices represented a high degree of similarity, with Zn as the predominant element, and thus, oral ingestion and dermal exposure via dust were expected to be the most important HM exposure pathways for residents in this region. The non-carcinogenic risks (HQs) from dermal and oral ingestion exposure to Cd, Cr, and Pb were higher than those of the other five elements for all three populations, and the HQ_derm of Cd for young children was 2.1 (HQ_oral=0.6). Moreover, the hazard index (HI) values of ∑₈HMs for young children (HI_total=5.2, HI_oral=2.0, HI_dermal=3.2) and children (HI_total=1.6, HI_oral=1.3, HI_dermal=0.3) exceeded the safe threshold (1.0). Therefore, young children and children should be prioritized for protection from HM pollution, and more attention should be paid to young children's dermal exposure to Cd in this region.

Keywords: Exposure pathway; Fingernails; Hand wipes; Health risk; Heavy metals.

MeSH terms

Adult
Child
Child, Preschool
China
Cities
Dust* / analysis
Environmental Monitoring
Female
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Middle Aged
Risk Assessment

Substances

Dust
Metals, Heavy