Effects of Lead Pollution at Industrial Contaminated Sites on Sentinel Juvenile Achatina achatina

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology Vol. 82; no. 1; pp. 106 - 110
• Main Authors: Ebenso, I. E, Ologhobo, A. D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York New York : Springer-Verlag 2009; Springer-Verlag; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Achatina achatina; Animals; Aquatic Pollution; Brownfields; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental Monitoring; Impact analysis; Industrial Waste; Lead; Lead - pharmacokinetics; Lead - toxicity; Mollusks; Nigeria; Pollution; Sentinel Surveillance; Snails - drug effects; Snails - growth & development; Snails - metabolism; Soil Pollutants - pharmacokinetics; Soil Pollutants - toxicity; Soil Science & Conservation; Studies; Time Factors; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Weight Gain - drug effects; Weight Gain - physiology; Nigeria; ASE, Nigeria, Rivers, Niger Delta; Lead accumulation; Edible snail
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-008-9525-3

We investigated juvenile Achatina achatina snails exposed as sentinels in plastic cages for 12 weeks to compare lead pollution at dump sites of abandoned battery factory (Niger Delta, Nigeria). Results indicated 0.56, 20.37, 200.42 and 1200.30 μg/g soil lead at control, storage, dried effluent and waste dump sites, respectively. There were significant (p < 0.05) depression in snail growth with increasing level of lead pollution. Snails were tolerant of all levels of lead pollution with no mortalities. This novel approach provides a basis for use of snail data in environmental pollution assessment of industrial sites.