Lead and cadmium content in daily food rations of children and adolescents from copper basin of the Legnica region

Environmental pollution still remains a serious problem in some heavily industrialized regions of Poland. Among various xenobiotics prevalent in human environment heavy metals such as lead and cadmium are considered as most harmful to living systems. The main source of these metals for humans is foo...

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Published inRoczniki Państwowego Zakładu Higieny Vol. 50; no. 4; p. 353
Main Authors Krejpcio, Z, Olejnik, D, Wójciak, R W, Gawecki, J
Format Journal Article
LanguagePolish
Published Poland 1999
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Cadmium - analysis
Child
Copper
Food
Humans
Industrial Waste - adverse effects
Industry
Lead - analysis
Poland
Poland
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Summary:Environmental pollution still remains a serious problem in some heavily industrialized regions of Poland. Among various xenobiotics prevalent in human environment heavy metals such as lead and cadmium are considered as most harmful to living systems. The main source of these metals for humans is food and water, therefore increased dietary lead and cadmium intake may cause functional disturbances of various body systems, especially in young developing organisms. The objective of this study was to evaluate the lead and cadmium content in daily food rations served at two selected Children Guardian Centres (CGC) located in the region of Copper Basin Legnica (Głogów and Polkowice), during winter and spring seasons in 1996. The lead and cadmium content was determined after dry mineralization of samples by the FAAS method with deuterium BC. It was found that the lead and cadmium content in daily food rations exceeded the PTWI limits for children and adolescents in both CGC. Moreover, seasonal and regional variations of the lead and cadmium content in daily meals were observed. Generally, higher levels of lead in food rations were determined in the winter season whereas the cadmium content was higher in the CGC in Głogów in comparison to Polkowice.
ISSN:0035-7715