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Cadmium in Groundwater Consumed in the Rural Areas of Gonabad and Bajestan, Iran: Occurrence and Health Risk Assessment

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Abstract

Evidences show that high levels of cadmium intake may be contributing to a wide range of deleterious health effects. This study was performed to estimate the concentration of cadmium and the health risk to human by cadmium through the ingestion of groundwater in 39 rural areas of Gonabad and Bajestan, eastern Iran. The mean cadmium concentrations in groundwater in the studied rural areas of Gonabad and Bajestan ranged from 0.087 to 14.32 μg/L and from 0.417 to 18.36 μg/L, respectively. Health risk quotient for cadmium contamination for 16 and 38% of children and infants in rural areas of Gonabad and Bajestan, respectively, was more than 1 which causes non-carcinogenic risk to the local population. The carcinogenic risk of cadmium in drinking water for adults, children, and infants in 16, 33, and 33% of studied rural areas of Gonabad and Bajestan, respectively, was higher than the safe limit of 1.0 × 10−4. For rural areas of Bajestan, the cancer risk in 42, 52, and 52% of adults, children, and infants was above the safe limit. It was strongly suggested that the accessible procedures of treatment should be taken for a portion of contaminated rural areas before the distribution of the groundwater for the local population.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Professor Mehdi Zarrei in the hospital for Sickkids in Toronto, Canada, for valuable comments and suggestions, allowing us to improve this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Social Development and Health Promotion Research Center, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran

    Mehdi Qasemi, Seyed Ali Sajjadi, Mansoureh Farhang, Ahmad Zarei & Mojtaba Afsharnia

  2. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Mahmoud Shams

  3. Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran

    Saeed Erfanpoor

  4. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mahmood Yousefi

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  1. Mehdi Qasemi
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Correspondence to Ahmad Zarei or Mojtaba Afsharnia.

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Qasemi, M., Shams, M., Sajjadi, S.A. et al. Cadmium in Groundwater Consumed in the Rural Areas of Gonabad and Bajestan, Iran: Occurrence and Health Risk Assessment. Biol Trace Elem Res 192, 106–115 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-019-1660-7

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