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Residential metal contamination and potential health risks of exposure in adobe brick houses in Potosí, Bolivia.

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Date
2016-08
Authors
McEwen, Abigail R
Hsu-Kim, Heileen
Robins, Nicholas A
Hagan, Nicole A
Halabi, Susan
Barras, Olivo
Richter, Daniel deB
Vandenberg, John J
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(8 total)
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Abstract
Potosí, Bolivia, is the site of centuries of historic and present-day mining of the Cerro Rico, a mountain known for its rich polymetallic deposits, and was the site of large-scale Colonial era silver refining operations. In this study, the concentrations of several metal and metalloid elements were quantified in adobe brick, dirt floor, and surface dust samples from 49 houses in Potosí. Median concentrations of total mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), and arsenic (As) were significantly greater than concentrations measured in Sucre, Bolivia, a non-mining town, and exceeded US-based soil screening levels. Adobe brick samples were further analyzed for bioaccessible concentrations of trace elements using a simulated gastric fluid (GF) extraction. Median GF extractable concentrations of Hg, As, and Pb were 0.085, 13.9, and 32.2% of the total element concentration, respectively. Total and GF extractable concentrations of Hg, As, and Pb were used to estimate exposure and potential health risks to children following incidental ingestion of adobe brick particles. Risks were assessed using a range of potential ingestion rates (50-1000mg/day). Overall, the results of the risk assessment show that the majority of households sampled contained concentrations of bioaccessible Pb and As, but not Hg, that represent a potential health risk. Even at the lowest ingestion rate considered, the majority of households exceeded the risk threshold for Pb, indicating that the concentrations of this metal are of particular concern. To our knowledge, this is the first study to quantify key trace elements in building materials in adobe brick houses and the results indicate that these houses are a potential source of exposure to metals and metalloids in South American mining communities. Additional studies are needed to fully characterize personal exposure and to understand potential adverse health outcomes within the community.
Type
Journal article
Subject
Humans
Metals
Soil Pollutants
Risk Assessment
Housing
Environmental Exposure
Environmental Monitoring
Construction Materials
Bolivia
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21242
Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.152
Publication Info
McEwen, Abigail R; Hsu-Kim, Heileen; Robins, Nicholas A; Hagan, Nicole A; Halabi, Susan; Barras, Olivo; ... Vandenberg, John J (2016). Residential metal contamination and potential health risks of exposure in adobe brick houses in Potosí, Bolivia. The Science of the total environment, 562. pp. 237-246. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.152. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21242.
This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Scholars@Duke

Halabi

Susan Halabi

Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Design and analysis of clinical trials, statistical analysis of biomarker and high dimensional data, development and validation of prognostic and predictive models.
Hsu-Kim

Heileen Hsu-Kim

Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Professor Heileen (Helen) Hsu-Kim is an environmental engineer who specializes in environmental aquatic chemistry and geochemistry. Her research tackles problems related to pollutant metals and the biogeochemical processes that alter their distribution in water, soil, and air. The applications of this work include environmental remediation technologies, the impacts of energy production on water resources, global environmental health, and the environmental implications and applications of nanotec
Richter

Daniel D. Richter

Professor in the Division of Earth and Climate Science
Richter’s research and teaching links soils with ecosystems and the wider environment, most recently Earth scientists’ Critical Zone.  He focuses on how humanity is transforming Earth’s soils from natural to human-natural systems, specifically how land-uses alter soil processes and properties on time scales of decades, centuries, and millennia.  Richter's book, Understanding Soil Change (Cambridge University Press), co-authored with his former PhD
Vandenberg

John Vandenberg

Adjunct Professor in the Division of Environmental Sciences and Policy
Dr. Vandenberg served as Director of the Health and Environmental Effects Assessment Park Division of the Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, at the US Environmental Protection Agency (retired, 2021). He has over 35 years of experience in environmental health risk assessment and was responsible for leadership, planning and oversight of EPA’s Integrated Science Assessments for the major (criteria) air pollutants and Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessments
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