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Residents health risk of Pb, Cd and Cu exposure to street dust based on different particle sizes around zinc smelting plant, Northeast of China

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Abstract

The residents health risk of Pb, Cd and Cu exposure to street dust with different particle sizes (<100 and <63 μm) near Huludao Zinc Plant (HZP) was investigated in this study. The average concentrations of Pb, Cd and Cu in the <100-μm and <63-μm dust were 1,559, 178.5, 917.9 and 2,099, 198.4, 1,038 mg kg−1, respectively. It showed that smaller particles tended to contain higher element concentrations. Metals in dust around HZP decreased gradually from the zinc smelter to west and east directions. There was significantly positive correlation among Pb, Cd and Cu in street dust with different particle sizes. The contents of Pb, Cd and Cu in dust increased with decreasing pH or increasing organic matter. Non-carcinogenic health risk assessment showed that the health index (HI) for children and adult exposed to <63-μm particles were higher than exposed to <100-μm particles, which indicated that smaller particles tend to have higher non-carcinogenic health risk. Non-carcinogenic risk of Pb was the highest in both particle sizes, followed by Cd and Cu. HI for Pb and Cd in both particle sizes for children had exceeded the acceptable value, indicated that children living around HZP were experiencing the non-carcinogenic health risk from Pb and Cd exposure to street dust.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41171392), the Science Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX2-YW-QN306), Science and Technology Development plan of Jilin Province, China (20120402), and the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZZD-EW-TZ-16-04-02).

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  1. Northeast Institute of Geography and Agricultural Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shengbei Street 4888#, Changchun City, 130102, Jilin, China

    Qiuhong Zhou, Na Zheng, Jingshuang Liu, Yang Wang, Chongyu Sun, Qiang Liu, Heng Wang & Jingjing Zhang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100049, China

    Qiuhong Zhou, Chongyu Sun, Qiang Liu, Heng Wang & Jingjing Zhang

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  1. Qiuhong Zhou
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Correspondence to Na Zheng.

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Zhou, Q., Zheng, N., Liu, J. et al. Residents health risk of Pb, Cd and Cu exposure to street dust based on different particle sizes around zinc smelting plant, Northeast of China. Environ Geochem Health 37, 207–220 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-014-9640-5

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