Assessment of oral and lung bioaccessibility of Cd and Pb from smelter-impacted dust

Abstract

Soil and dust contamination by metals engenders significant environmental and health problems in northern France where a lead smelter was in activity for more than a century. This study aims to examine the long-term effects of the smelter, 10 years after its closedown, on the presence of metal in sidewalk dust for a better assessment of the local population's exposure to Cd and Pb. The investigation included: (i) the metal distribution in different dust particle sizes and (ii) the assessment of metal bioaccessibility via ingestion and inhalation of dust. Seventy-two sidewalk dust samples were collected using a dust-sampling vacuum. The samples were sieved to collect different particle sizes from 0.3 to 1000 μm. The unified bioaccessibility method (UBM) was employed to evaluate the oral bioaccessibility of metals in the different particle sizes. The pulmonary bioaccessible fraction of Cd and Pb via the finest particles was extracted with lung-simulating solution (artificial lysosomal fluid). Ten years after the smelter closedown, (i) a strong relationship was observed between the concentrations of metals in dust and the distance to the former smelter, whatever the particle size; (ii) both total and oral bioaccessible concentrations of metals were high in the finest fraction (0.3–5 μm) and decreased when the particle size increased; (iii) a higher oral bioaccessibility of Cd and Pb was measured in the gastric phase (on average 43% for both metals for all particle sizes) and compared to the gastrointestinal phase (on average 16% for both metals for all particle sizes); and (iv) metal bioaccessibility via inhalation of dust was relatively high (on average 74 and 69%, for Cd and Pb, respectively). The results of the present study suggest that this environmental compartment may be a sensitive and effective indicator of anthropogenic metal contamination and the human exposure in urban areas.