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Assessing human exposure to aluminium, chromium and vanadium through outdoor dust ingestion in the Bassin Minier de Provence, France

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Abstract

The Western part of the “Bassin Minier de Provence”, a former coal mining area, is still occupied by old polluting industries such as a coal-fired power plant and an alumina factory. The identified pollution sources that raise more concern in the population are the emission of gases and dusts, as well as the storage of raw and transformed materials. In 2011, a preliminary survey was carried out in the area as the first step to an exposure and health risk-assessment study. This first survey intends to assess human exposure through ingestion and health risk associated with potentially harmful elements (PHEs) in ground-level dusts collected in recreational areas used by children. Dust samples were taken at 19 sites distributed across the study area, depending on the location of public parks, public gardens, playgrounds and schools. Pseudo-total concentrations of 53 elements were determined by ICP-MS. Bioaccessible concentrations were estimated using the unified bioaccessibility method. This study presents the results obtained for Al, V and Cr, which seem to be related with industry and show similar distribution patterns. PHEs presumably related to traffic or other urban pollution sources are not discussed in this study. The highest total concentrations occur in dusts near the alumina plant that have significant amounts of Al mineral phases (gibbsite and alumina). However, in these dusts only small fractions of the elements under study are in bioaccessible forms. The highest bioaccessible fractions occur in dusts collected near the coal-fired power plant. Further investigation is required to assess potential pathways of exposure and health risk in this area.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Labex DRIIHM and the Réseau des Observatoire Hommes-Millieux-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (ROHM-CNRS) for the support to the project “Analyse comparée de la perception de la pollution atmosphérique en milieu urbain et industriel: Société, géochimie et analyse spatial”, and the Foundation for Science and the Technology (FCT) for the support to the project PEst-C/CTE/UI4035/2011. The authors also want to express their gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments that significantly improved the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GEOBIOTEC, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    A. P. Reis, C. Patinha & A. C. Dias

  2. CNRS, CEREGE, UMR 7330, Aix-Marseille University, BP 80, 13545, Aix-en-Provence Cedex 4, France

    Y. Noack

  3. CNRS, ESPACE, UMR 7300, Faculté Des Sciences de Luminy, Aix-Marseille University, Case 901, 163 Avenue de Luminy, 13288, Marseille Cedex 9, France

    S. Robert

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  1. A. P. Reis
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Correspondence to A. P. Reis.

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Reis, A.P., Patinha, C., Noack, Y. et al. Assessing human exposure to aluminium, chromium and vanadium through outdoor dust ingestion in the Bassin Minier de Provence, France. Environ Geochem Health 36, 303–317 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-013-9564-5

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