DSpace at VNU: Accumulation and potential health risks of cadmium, lead and arsenic in vegetables grown near mining site...
Environ Monit Assess (2016) 188:525 DOI 10.1007/s10661-016-5535-5 Accumulation and potential health risks of cadmium, lead and arsenic in vegetables grown near mining sites in Northern Vietnam Anh T K Bui & Ha T H Nguyen & Minh N Nguyen & Tuyet-Hanh T Tran & Toan V Vu & Chuyen H Nguyen & Heather L Reynolds Received: 17 February 2016 / Accepted: August 2016 # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 Abstract The effect of environmental pollution on the safety of vegetable crops is a serious global public health issue This study was conducted to assess heavy metal concentrations in soil, irrigation water, and 21 local vegetable species collected from four sites near mining activities and one control site in Northern Vietnam Soils from vegetable fields in the mining areas were contaminated with cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and arsenic (As), while irrigation water was contaminated with Pb Average concentrations of Pb and As in fresh vegetable samples collected at the four mining sites exceeded maximum levels (MLs) set by international food standards for Pb (70.6 % of vegetable samples) and As (44.1 % of vegetable samples), while average Cd concentrations in vegetables at all sites were below the A T K Bui (*) : C H Nguyen Institute of Environmental Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Hanoi, Vietnam e-mail: buianh7811@gmail.com H T H Nguyen : M N Nguyen VNU University of Science, Vietnam National University, 334 Nguyen Trai, Hanoi, Vietnam T.