Estimation of Some Major and Trace Elements in Human Hair in the Vicinity of Ashaka Cement Factory, Gombe State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study aimed to estimate some major and trace elements in human hair samples obtained from humans living in the vicinity of Ashaka Cement Factory, Gombe State to identify the proportion of some major and trace elements in human hair samples. The samples collected from humans were kept in air-tight polyethene bags immediately. Then, they were washed with detergent to remove external dust and socked in distilled water for 10 minutes and transferred it into Acetone to remove stubborn dirt. The samples were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) after several processes of determination and the graphical solution was plotted using MATLAB software package 2018a. The result of the analysis shows that 0.0091 ± 0.184, 0.169 ± 0.15, 0.16 ± 0.0102, 0.0014 ± 0.0025 mg/kg for Ca, Fe, Mg, Na and 0.085 ± 0.38, 0.0049 ± 0.0046, 0.0091 ± 0.0029, 0.099 ± 0.0069 mg/kg for Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd in human hair samples obtained in the vicinity of Ashaka cement factory. The findings of the study is greatly importance to the entire society, especially those in the area of Ashaka cement factory and it also informs people about the positive and negative effects of trace elements on human life. Based on this result, it is recommended amongst other things that, there should be a need for a study on the assessment of the elements content of cement dust using a variety of analytical approaches since; some of the elements such as Al, Si, Ni, and Hg were not detected in the sample obtained in the study using atomic absorption spectrometry.