Co-exposure of heavy metals in rice and corn reveals a probabilistic health risk in Guizhou Province, China

Abstract

The adverse effects of heavy metals have arousing concern in the high geological background area, especially in southwestern Guizhou, China. However, the pollution status of heavy metals are still unclear when exposed to rice and corn in Guizhou province. Therefore, the concentration, pollution level, spatial distribution, and probabilistic health risks of Ni, Cr, Pb, Cu, and Zn are estimated in rice and corn. A total of 241 samples (117 for rice and 124 for corn) were collected from Guizhou province and measured by a method of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results showed that rice and corn were contaminated with Ni and Cr. High concentrations of Ni were presented in the southeast of rice. It indicated that 22.0 % of rice samples were contaminated with Ni. HI values for children and adults exceeded 1.0 in rice and corn, suggesting that humans might be subject to probabilistic non-carcinogenic risks. FTCR demonstrated that rice and corn might cause probabilistic carcinogenic risks to children and adults, which were both greatly higher than 1.0 × 10−4. Moreover, the contributions of Ni to the HI and FTCR were the highest for adults and children. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the exposure of heavy metals in rice and corn, especially in Ni. The results would provide a novel prospective for pollution control and be helpful for environmental regulation.

Keywords

• Heavy metals
• Rice
• Corn
• Pollution level
• Spatial distribution
• Probabilistic health risk