Application of multiple media pathway in risk assessments of consuming vegetable cultivated in central Taiwan with air metal pollution

Abstract

Industrial emissions may contain heavy metal particles and the pollutants will deposit into the vegetation affecting the residents' health via ingestion This study refers to the Air Toxics Hot Spots Program Risk Assessment Guidelines which was announced by the California Environmental Protection Agency to build the multiple pathway model and adjust some parameters taken from Taiwan to estimate the concentration of heavy metals in vegetable and further to calculate the health risks The discussion of consuming risk in metals was done in the air simulation group (ASG) the soil simulation group (SSG) and the vegetable measurement group (VMG) in Houli and Longjing areas in central Taiwan In the VMG the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic ingestion risk in Houli and Longjing areas require attention Arsenic is the highest contribution to the carcinogenic risk The metals highest contribution for the non-carcinogenic risk are arsenic mercury and lead Air simulation is not suitable for replacing the vegetable measurement method The replacement of the vegetable measurement by soil simulation seems to be workable but it's still recommended to cooperate with the emission of other pollution source and the regular inspection of local vegetables Copper zinc and cadmium are not suitable for using simulation to replace measurement For areas with local metal pollution sources it should enhance the consumption management to avoid consuming local crops only and dispersing the dietary source to reduce the exposure risk from consuming the locally cultivated vegetables

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English
Supervisor	Hsiu-Ling Chen (Supervisor)