Human health exposure and risks of arsenic from contaminated soils and brinjal fruits collected from different producers and retailers levels

A quantitative assessment was attempted to determine concentrations of total arsenic (As) in farmer′s field soils and fruits of brinjal collected from two famous brinjals producing Upazila′s, namely Melandaha and Islampur of Jamalpur district, Bangladesh. The study also evaluated cancer and non-cancer health risks for both males and females caused by dermal exposure of soils and dietary intake of brinjal grown in farmers′ fields and sold at different markets of four country districts. The study findings revealed that 75% of soil sampling locations had enrichment factor (EFc) values > 1.5, indicating the anthropogenic sources of As, and 50% of the sites possessed EFc values within the range of 2.0–5.0 indicated moderate enrichment of As. The mean concentrations of As in brinjal grown in farmers′ fields and retailers of different markets of four districts were 0.18 and 0.39 µg g −1 , respectively. The soils of the study area exhibited negligible risk in terms of the calculated hazard quotient, hazard index and incremental lifetiame cancer risk (ILCR) values for As due to dermal and ingestion exposures. In contrast, the same values for As due to the dietary intake of brinjal were thousands of times greater than the threshold level in 40% of farmers′ field and all retailers′ levels samples. Compared to the producer/farmers′ field samples, the calculated average non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks were more than twice in samples collected from different retailers. The present study suggests further pinpoint investigation of potential entry routes of As in the supply chain through future traceability studies.