A review of heavy metal risks around e-waste sites and comparable municipal dumpsites in major African cities: Recommendations and future perspectives.

In Africa, the effects of informal e-waste recycling on the environment are escalating. It is regularly transported from developed to developing nations, where it is disassembled informally in search of precious metals, thus increasing human exposure to harmful compounds. Africa has a serious problem with e-waste, as there are significant facilities in Ghana and Nigeria where imported e-waste is unsafely dismantled. however, because they are in high demand and less expensive than new ones, old electronic and electrical items are imported in large quantities, just like in many developing nations. After that, these objects are frequently scavenged to recover important metals through heating, burning, incubation in acids, and other techniques. Serious health hazards are associated with these activities for workers and individuals close to recycling plants. At e-waste sites in Africa, there have been documented instances of elevated concentrations of hazardous elements, persistent organic pollutants, and heavy metals in dust, soils, and vegetation, including plants consumed as food. Individuals who handle and dispose of e-waste are exposed to highly hazardous chemical substances. This paper examines heavy metal risks around e-waste sites and comparable municipal dumpsites in major African cities. Elevated concentrations of these heavy metals metal in downstream aquatic and marine habitats have resulted in additional environmental impacts. These effects have been associated with unfavourable outcomes in marine ecosystems, such as reduced fish stocks characterized by smaller sizes, increased susceptibility to illness, and decreased population densities. The evidence from the examined studies shows how much e-waste affects human health and the environment in Africa. Sub-Saharan African nations require a regulatory framework that includes specialized laws, facilities, and procedures for the safe recycling and disposal of e-waste.

In vitro cyto-toxic assessment of heavy metals and their binary mixtures on mast cell-like, rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells.

We investigated the cytotoxicity and mechanisms of cell death induced by salts of Cadmium (Cd2+), Lead (Pb2+), Arsenic (AsO43-) and Chromium (Cr+6) on RBL-2H3 cells (a model mast cell line). In addition, cyto-toxic effect on cell viability was assessed to reveal their nature of interaction in binary mixture. The individual cytotoxic characteristics of these metals on RBL-2H3 cell viability showed a concentration-dependent reduction of cell viability. We observed that concentration-dependent cytotoxic potency on RBL-2H3 cells of these metals range in the following order Cd2+>Cr+6>As O43- > Pb2+ with LC50 values of 0.11 µM, 93.58 µM, 397.9 µM and 485.3 µM respectively. Additive effects were observed with Pb2+ + Cd2+, Pb2+ + AsO43-, Pb2+ + Cr+6 and AsO43- + Cr+6. The study revealed that Pb2+, Cd2+, AsO43- and Cr+6 could induce significant (P < 0.01) cell death by apoptosis in RBL-2H3. Highly significant necrotic cell death was observed with Pb2+ and Cr+6 (P < 0.01) than Cd2+ and AsO43- (P < 0.05). Overall, it can be deduced that several cell death executing pathways may be concomitantly activated on exposure to heavy metals and the predominance of one over others might depend on the type of heavy metal, concentration and the metabolic state of the cell. Eventually, binary mixtures of some of these metals showed less cytotoxicity than would be expected from their individual actions and may depend on the co-exposure of the metal ions and their modes of action.