Health Risk Assessment of Chromium, Manganese and Arsenic through the Consumption of Food from Industrial Areas in South Eastern States of Nigeria

Aim: This study investigated the health risk associated with chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn) and arsenic (As) through consumption of some food crops in selected industrialized areas located in the south eastern states of Nigeria using the estimated daily intake(EDI), bioaccumulation factor(BCF), target hazard quotient(THQ) and incremental lifetime cancer risk(ILCR).

Study Design: Atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to assess the concentrations of Cr, Mn and As in the different food crops and soils at the industrialized areas.

Place and Duration: Samples were collected around industrial layouts in south east states of Nigeria. Duration was between February 2018 to September 2018.

Methodology: Twelve (12) different food crops which included 3 each of vegetables, tubers fruits and nuts and their rhizophere soils were collected from farmlands close to the industries at Osisioma, Akwuuru, Ishiagu, Ngwo, Irete while Umudike was the control site for this study.

Results: Mean concentrations of Cr and Mn ranged from 0.01 ± 0.01c to 26.32 ± 0.02 dmg/kg and 0.01 ± 0.00 to 5.53 ± 0.00 mg/kg while As which was Below Detection Limit (< 0.01) mg/kg. 60 and 11 0ut of 72 samples exceeded the WHO permissible limits of 0.2 and 2 mg/kg for Cr and Mn respectively. The BAF of >1 was recorded in 26 Samples out of 108 with its highest values in Pumpkin and Waterleaf suggesting it could be tried as bioindicators .THQ > 1 was recorded in all samples for different locations except for Star apple and Kolanut. ILCR values for Cr in all the samples ranged 10-2 to 10-5 exceeding the permissible range of 10-4 to 10-6.

Conclusion: The exposed population has the probability of contracting cancer and other ailments due to exposure to the heavy metals in this study. Therefore, this study suggests further consideration of the metals as chemicals of concern with respect to industrial locations in South Eastern, Nigeria.