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Chemical speciation and bioaccessibility of lead in surface soil and house dust, Lavrion urban area, Attiki, Hellas

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 20:15 authored by Alecos Demetriades, Li Xiangdong, Michael H Ramsey, Iain Thornton
In the Lavrion urban area study, Hellas, a five-step sequential extraction method was applied on samples of `soil (n = 224), affected by long-term mining and metallurgical activities, and house dust (n = 127), for the purpose of studying the potential bioaccessibility of lead and other metals to humans. In this paper, the Pb concentrations in soil and house dust samples are discussed, together with those in rocks and childrens blood. Lead is mainly associated with the carbonate, FeMn oxides and residual fractions in soil and house dust. Considering the very low pH of gastric fluids (13), a high amount of metals, present in soil (810152,000 mg/kg Pb) and house dust (41818,600 mg/kg Pb), could be potentially bioaccessible. Consequently, children in the neighbourhoods with a large amount of metallurgical processing wastes have high blood-Pb concentrations (5.9860.49 g/100 ml; median 17.83 g/100 ml; n = 235). It is concluded that the Lavrion urban and sub-urban environment is extremely hazardous to human health, and the Hellenic State authorities should urgently tackle this health-related hazard in order to improve the living conditions of local residents.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Environmental Geochemistry and Health

ISSN

0269-4042

Issue

6

Volume

32

Page range

529-552

Pages

24.0

Department affiliated with

  • Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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