Major pollutants in soils of abandoned agricultural land contaminated by e-waste activities in Hong Kong.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) compounds and five heavy metals (cadmium, copper, chromium, lead, and zinc) were determined in soil samples collected from six sites of abandoned agricultural land affected by electronic-waste: e-waste dismantling workshop [EW (DW)], e-waste open burning site [EW (OBS)], e-waste storage [EW (S)], and agricultural (A) in the New Territories, Hong Kong. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals were detected in all soil samples. EW (DW) contained the highest concentrations of PAHs, Cr, Cu, and Zn, whereas EW (OBS) had the highest concentrations of PCBs, PBDEs, Cd, and Pb. PAH at EW (DW) and EW (OBS) and PCB concentrations at EW (OBS) exceeded the target values of the New Dutch list, whereas Cd, Cu, Cr, Pb, and Zn levels exceeded the Chinese legislation for the protection of agricultural production and safeguarding of human health, by 3-11 times at EW (OBS) and 5-8 times at EW (DW). Lead at EW (OBS) and EW (DW) and Cr at EW (DW) greatly exceeded the Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines by 46 and 20 times and 27 times, respectively. Concentrations of POPs and heavy metals at EW (DW) and EW (OBS) were significantly higher than at EW (S) and A. It was concluded that e-waste activities led to increases of toxic chemicals at these abandoned agricultural land, which would hinder the redevelopment of the land.

Oral bioaccessibility of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) through fish consumption, based on an in vitro digestion model.

An in vitro gastrointestinal digestion model was used to evaluate bioaccessibility of PAHs in 20 fish species collected from Hong Kong markets. The average bioaccessibilities of PAHs were 24.3 and 31.1%, respectively, in gastric and intestinal conditions. When bioaccessibility was taken into consideration, the values of potency equivalent concentrations (PEC) decreased from 0.53 to 0.18 ng g(-1) for freshwater fish and from 1.43 to 0.35 ng g(-1) for marine fish. This indicated that bioaccessibility should be taken into account for health risk assessment with regard to PAH contamination in fish. The relative accumulation ratios (R(nn)) of PAH congeners were significantly correlated with their physicochemical parameters and their corresponding concentrations reported in subcutaneous fats of Hong Kong residents. The data suggest that R(nn) values calculated in the present study could effectively reflect the accumulations of PAHs in the human body.

Health risk assessment of abandoned agricultural soils based on heavy metal contents in Hong Kong, the world's most populated city.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the consequence of changing and using agricultural soils to other purposes in Hong Kong with respect to risk to human health. This study established concentrations of the following priority elements: As, Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb and Zn in terms of total burden (using mixed acid microwave digestion) and with respect to metal bioaccessibility (using an in vitro simulated gastric solution). 55 locations were sampled representing 12 different land use types, namely, agricultural (A), abandoned agricultural (Ab), organic farm (OF), container storage (CS), construction waste (CW), e-waste storage (EW (S)), e-waste dismantling workshop (EW (DW)), e-waste open burning site (EW (OBS)), open burning site (OBS), petrol station (PS), metal recycling workshop (MRW) and car dismantling workshop (CDW). The elemental concentrations were subsequently used to establish Hazard Indices (for adults and children). 95th percentile values of total elemental concentrations were used to derive a combined (ingestion, dermal and inhalation) Hazard Index (HI) only for adults where the EW (DW) land use type indicated the potential for increased harm (HI=1.16). On the other hand, where 5th percentile values of total elemental concentrations were used to derive a combined Hazard Index (HI) for children the HI values exceeded 1 for CS, MRW, PS, EW (DW), EW (OBS) and CDW land use types (respectively, 1.21, 1.19, 1.52, 1.21, 1.81 and 2.04).