ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Heavy Metal Characterization and Health Risk
Assessment in Agricultural Soils from
an Agate Dyeing Village
More details
Hide details
1
Key Lab of Eco-Restoration of Regional Contaminated Environment, Ministry of Education,
Shenyang University, Shenyang 110044 China
2
Liaoning Academy for Environmental Planning Co., Ltd., EIA Department of Transportation,
Shenyang 110037 China
Submission date: 2022-10-05
Final revision date: 2022-10-27
Acceptance date: 2022-11-11
Online publication date: 2023-01-13
Publication date: 2023-02-23
Corresponding author
Quanguo Cheng
Key Lab of Eco-Restoration of Regional Contaminated Environment, Ministry of Education, Shenyang University, Shenyang, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2023;32(2):1393-1404
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
The pollution of heavy metals in agricultural soil poses a dangerous health risk to nearby residents.
This study presents a method to assess the health risks of heavy metal pollution using Monte Carlo
simulations. Soil samples from an agate dyeing village were collected and their heavy metal contents
were analyzed. The results indicate the contamination of heavy metals in the study area soil, the singlefactor
index values of Pb, Cu, Cr, and Ni were found to indicate mild pollution, and the Nemerow
complex index values of all investigated metals were ranked at level IV, indicating moderate pollution.
The health assessment indicates an unacceptable total carcinogenic risk for adults and children and noncarcinogenic
hazard quotient for adults. Oral ingestion was found to be the main exposure pathway, and
the most sensitive factors were the adherence factor, soil ingestion rate, and body weight.