Human health risk associated with metal exposure at Agbogbloshie e-waste site and the surrounding neighbourhood in Accra,Ghana

摘要

Agbogbloshie in Accra,Ghana,was a center for informal e-waste recycling until it was closed recently.This study investigated the poten-tial health risks of toxic metals(including As,Cd,Cu,Ni,Pb,Sb,and Zn)found in the surface soils based on their concentrations and in vitro bioacces-sibility.Mean concentrations at the burning sites were As:218;Cd:65;Cr:182;Cu:15,841;Ni:145;Pb:6,106;Sb:552;and Zn:16,065 mg/kg while the dismantling sites had mean concentrations of As:23;Cd:38;Cr:342;Cu:3239;Ni:96;Pb:681;Sb:104;and Zn:1658 mg/kg.The findings confirmed the enrichment of potentially toxic metals at the dis-mantling and burning sites,exceeding international environmental soil quality guidelines.Based on the total metal concentrations,bioaccessibility,and cal-culated risk indices,the risks associated with inciden-tal ingestion of soil-borne metal contaminants at the dismantling and burning sites were very high.Despite evidence of higher metal concentrations in the com-munities near the burning and dismantling sites,the human health risk associated with soil ingestion was significantly lower in the surrounding neighborhood.