Health Risk Assessment of Environmental Lead Exposures Through Scrapped Car Paint Dusts from Fairly Used Car Painting Workshops in Nigeria

摘要

Background: High volume of automobiles imported into Nigeria, are fairly used. Due to the resultant effect of the high rate of road accidents and ambient air temperature which cause expansion and contraction on these vehicles, they undergo wear and tear as could be seen by the caking and flaking of the paint coatings. The vehicles are then taken to the car painting workshops for reworking (scrapping and repainting). Method: About fifty-six (56) scrapped paint dusts from 56 vehicles were collected from eight (8) different car paint workshops in south eastern Nigerian. They were homogenized, mixed and divided into fine particles that can pass through 0.5mm sieve and digested by standard method. The filtrates were assayed with atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS 200A). Results: Show that the lead (Pb) concentration were in the range of (1.42± 0.01 -4.16 ± 0.01mg/kg) for workshop 1, (0.49 ± 0.01-3.50 ± 0,01mg/kg) for workshop2, (2.45 ± 0.01-4.36 ± 0.04mg/kg) for workshop 3, (2.94 ± 0.02-4.17 ± 0.00mg/kg) for workshop 4, etc; Dose exposure and risk assessment through inhalation and dermal contact were below USA EPA threshold limit. Conclusion: Reworking (scrapping and repainting) of fairly used vehicles imported into Nigeria may contribute to environmental lead burden with its associated public health risks.