Soil heavy metals in Dagestan Republic and human health risk assessment

Abstract

Introduction. The comprehensive studies of heavy metal content in soils around the world are extremely important for the assessment and prediction of environmental risks due to their impact on human health. To prevent and restore heavy metal pollution in soil, source identification and risk assessment of heavy metals are requiring. Aims and objectives. The purpose of the present work is to find the correlations (direct links) between human’s health (endocrine diseases) and a heavy metal to prevent the endocrine diseases of the population. Materials and methods. A total of six hundred fifty seven samples of agricultural soil were collected and five heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Mn, Co, and Pb), were analyzed for their concentrations, pollution levels and human health impact. Results. A total of 657 surface soil samples (0–20 cm) from agricultural areas of Dagestan Republic, five kinds of metals (Zn, Co, Cu, Mn, and Pb) were analyzed. Limitations. To check of the reliability of the results obtained on the relationship between the content of Zn, Co, Cu, Mn, Pb in soils and blood of the population with the prevalence of endocrine diseases (diabetes mellitus, endemic goiter) in the population, repeated studies are needed to expand the list of heavy elements, diseases of the population, and the geography of coverage of the study area. Conclusions. The relationship of endocrine diseases with the concentration of heavy metals in the soils of the flat zone of Dagestan Republic (DR) and patient’s blood was found. The level of МРС (maximum permissible concentration) for Mn was is revealed to be within (0.45–1.29), while for Pb as 0.5–0.0). The results of the present study showed that the concentrations of Co and Cu in the soils of DR are low than МРС.