Waste dumpsites and public health: a case for lead exposure in Zimbabwe and potential global implications.

Most waste sites in Zimbabwe are not sanitary landfills but open dumps that indiscriminately receive waste from municipalities, industries, commercial establishments, and social services establishments. People, including children, who eke out a living through scavenging the dumps expose themselves to environmental pollutants at the dumps via inadvertent ingestion and inhalation of contaminated dust, and dermal absorption. The public is potentially being exposed to a slew of the pollutants via air, water, and food, all contaminated by uncontrolled leachates and aerially deposited dust and particulates from the sites. One of the unfortunate consequences of globalization is the sharing of contaminated food and the associated disease burdens; hence, regional contamination can have global impacts. We analyzed the levels of lead at two waste sites in Zimbabwe to assess the daily exposure levels of Pb to children and adults who scavenge the sites as well as determine levels of the heavy metal that are potentially contaminating air, water, soils, and food in the country. Levels of Pb ranged from 23,000 to 14,600,000 µg/kg at one of the sites and from 30,000 to 1,800,000 µg/kg at the other. Inadvertent daily exposure amounts that were calculated by assuming an inadvertent daily ingestion of 20-500 mg of soil/dust were mostly higher than the provisional tolerable daily intake established by the World Health Organization for infants, children, and adults. The XRF measurements were validated using certified reference samples, 2710a (Montana soil) and 2781 (domestic sludge), from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Speciation and cysteine-simplified physiological-based extraction technique (SBET) bioaccesibility of heavy metals in biosolids.

Cysteine residues on proteins have a high affinity for metals yet formulations used to determine bioaccessibility do not contain cysteine or thiol-containing molecules. As a result, we used a cysteine-simplified physiological-based extraction technique (SBET) and, the conventional glycine-SBET to determine bioaccesibility of selected heavy metals in biosolids and compared the data. We also determined speciation of the selected metals in the biosolids to assess further the health risk posed the use of biosolids as a soil amendment in agricultural soils. Samples, including a certified reference standard were analyzed using x-ray fluorescence and flame atomic absorption. Bioaccessibility was higher in cysteine-SBET than glycine-SBET, and regression data show that the two methods give different sets of results. We proposed a bioaccessibility model that involves cysteine and the hydrogen ion complementing each other to dissolve metals. The model also includes a three mode-bioavailability mechanism: absorption of free metal ions; ligand-mediated transport of metal ions from solution; and ligand-mediated transport of metal ions directly from the biosolids into the cell. Low pH in the gut increases bioaccessibility but reduces bioavailability due to protonation of receptor ligands. With the exception of Fe, bioaccessibility was directly correlated to the sequential extraction availability which followed the order: Mn(90.3 %)>Zn(50.3 %)>Cd(26.5 %)>Cu(24.9 %)>Fe(0.367 %). We calculated bioavailability from bioaccessibility using literature estimates of percent bioavailabilities. The order of abundance of the analyzed metals in the biosolids was as follows: Fe>Mn>Zn>Cu>Pb>Cd.

Daily bioaccessible levels of selected essential but toxic heavy metals from the consumption of non-dietary food sources.

Researchers and regulatory bodies tend to focus on non-essential toxic elements when testing for inorganic chemical pollutants in food. Both toxic and essential elements are increasingly getting into the food chain from the extensive use agrochemicals and the use of contaminated water, raw sewage and untreated industrial effluent to irrigate crops. A holistic testing protocol for chemical contaminants in food should be the norm in order to protect human health, especially considering that the essential elements are as a matter of fact essential poisons. They are essential but are toxic above certain thresholds. Eating contaminated foods that are not considered to be dietary sources of the essential poisons may result in an inadvertent overdose, especially considering that consumers may be taking food supplements that recommended as sources of the essential elements. We measured the levels of manganese and zinc in rice and calculated the daily bioaccessible levels of the two elements. The daily bioaccessible levels were significantly higher than the recommended daily intakes in most of the samples. It has to be noted that exposure from various sources is additive, therefore, lower levels than recommended limits in one source may not guarantee safety from a particular chemical toxicant.