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Comparison of exposure to trace elements through vegetable consumption between a mining area and an agricultural area in central Chile

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Abstract

Human exposure to trace elements has been a large concern due to the potential health issues. Accordingly, this study aimed to compare the concentrations of arsenic, copper, and zinc in the edible parts of vegetables grown in a mining-agricultural area and in an exclusively agricultural area and to compare the potential human health risks of consuming vegetables from both areas. The consumption habits of the studied population were extracted from the 2010 National Alimentary Survey of Chile. In most cases, the concentrations of trace elements in the edible tissues of vegetables (lettuce, spinach, garlic, onion, carrot, potato, sweet corn, and tomato) were higher in the mining-agricultural area than those in the control area. This difference was most pronounced for leafy vegetables, with arsenic being the trace element of concern. Specifically, the arsenic concentrations in the edible tissues of lettuce and spinach were 8.2- and 5.4-fold higher, respectively, in the mining-agricultural area than in the control area. Lettuce was the vegetable of concern due to its relatively high consumption and relatively high concentration of trace elements. Nevertheless, there was no health risk associated with vegetable consumption in either the mining area or the control area because none of the HQ values surpassed 1.0.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by Anglo American Sur S.A., contract number 31500081. The publication of the article was authorized on July 4, 2017, reference number S-AAS602-0717-0416.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Escuela de Agronomía, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Quillota, Chile

    Marcelo Aguilar, Pedro Mondaca, Kooichi Vidal & Alexander Neaman

  2. Departamento de Ecosistemas y Medio Ambiente, Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Rosanna Ginocchio

  3. Department of Chemistry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada

    Sébastien Sauvé

Authors
  1. Marcelo Aguilar
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  2. Pedro Mondaca
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  3. Rosanna Ginocchio
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  4. Kooichi Vidal
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  5. Sébastien Sauvé
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  6. Alexander Neaman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander Neaman.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Highlights

Leafy vegetables exhibited the highest TE content in tissues.

Arsenic was the TE of greatest concern.

Local alimentary habits are a key factor for health risk assessments.

None of the HQ values surpassed 1.0.

There was no health risk associated with vegetable consumption in any of the studied areas.

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Aguilar, M., Mondaca, P., Ginocchio, R. et al. Comparison of exposure to trace elements through vegetable consumption between a mining area and an agricultural area in central Chile. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 19114–19121 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2116-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2116-x

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