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Occurrence of organic micropollutants and human health risk assessment based on consumption of Amaranthus viridis, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Journal article

Occurrence of organic micropollutants and human health risk assessment based on consumption of Amaranthus viridis, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

  • Ngweme GN School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa, Po.Box 11850, Kinshasa XI, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • Al Salah DMM Department F.-A. Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Sciences, and Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Geneva, 66 Boulevard Carl-Vogt, CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland; King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Joint Centers of Excellence Program, Prince Turki the 1st st, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia.
  • Laffite A Department F.-A. Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Sciences, and Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Geneva, 66 Boulevard Carl-Vogt, CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Sivalingam P Postgraduate and Research Department of Microbiology, Jamal Mohamed College, Tiruchirappalli 620020, Tamil Nadu, India.
  • Grandjean D Central Environmental Laboratory (GR-CEL), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • Konde JN School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa, Po.Box 11850, Kinshasa XI, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • Mulaji CK Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN), Po.Box 190, Kinshasa XI, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • Breider F Central Environmental Laboratory (GR-CEL), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • Poté J Department F.-A. Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Sciences, and Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Geneva, 66 Boulevard Carl-Vogt, CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN), Po.Box 190, Kinshasa XI, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Electronic address: john.pote@unige.ch.
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  • 2020-09-13
Published in:
  • The Science of the total environment. - 2021
Amaranthus viridis
Dietary intake
Exposure risk assessment
Persistent organic pollutant
Plant contamination
Water and soil pollution
Amaranthus
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Environmental Monitoring
Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers
Humans
Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated
Pesticides
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
Risk Assessment
English The contamination of water resource and food chain by persistent organic pollutants (POPs) constitutes a major environmental and human health concern worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the levels of POPs in irrigation water, soil and in Amaranthus viridis (A. viridis) from different gardening sites in Kinshasa to evaluate the potential environmental and human health risks. A survey study for the use of pesticides and fertilizers was carried out with 740 market gardeners. The levels of POPs (including organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)) were analyzed in irrigation water and 144 vegetable samples collected from different gardening sites. The assessment of potential human health risk was estimated by calculating daily intake and toxic equivalency to quantify the carcinogenicity. The results show highest PAH levels in A. viridis from all studied sites. The concentrations of the sum of seven PCBs (Σ7PCBS) congeners in analyzed plants ranged between 15.89 and 401.36 ng g-1. The distributions of OCPs in both water and A. viridis were congener specific, chlorpyrifos-ethyl and p,p'-DDE were predominantly detected. Among PBDEs, only BDE47 was quantified with noticeable concentration in A. viridis, while no PBDEs were detected in irrigation water. Higher estimated daily intake values indicate that consuming leafy vegetables might associate with increased human health risks. However, calculated incremental lifetime cancer risk values indicates no potential carcinogenic risk for the local population. The results of this study provide important information on A. viridis contamination by POPs and strongly recommend implementing the appropriate measures to control the use of chemicals used in studied gardening areas. Thus in Kinshasa, urban agriculture control programs for POPs and fertilizers is very important in order to protect the public health through direct and dietary exposure pathways.
Language
  • English
Open access status
green
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/46941
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