Public health and heavy metals in urban and periurban horticulture

The health effects of heavy metals can be complex and severe. Exposure to heavy metals has been linked with developmental retardation, various cancers, kidney damage, and even death in some instances of exposure to very high concentrations. Soils in urban and suburban areas are transformed by human activities, they are characterized by a strong spatial heterogeneity resulting from the various inputs of exogenous materials and the mixing of original soil material, and they often hold pollutants that may be a threat to human health. The objective of this work is to present a study of heavy metals occurrence in 33 urban and periurban soils dedicated to horticulture in Buenos Aires (Argentina). Total heavy metal content in soils (cadmium, chromium, copper, nickel, lead and zinc) was evaluated using Sequential Plasma Emission Spectrometer (ICP-ES). Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis showing a primary separation in two groups: eight sites with high contents of one or more of the analized heavy metals and the second group with lower levels of heavy metals. Maximum values of Cd, Pb, Zn and Cu in horticultural soils resulted problematic with reference to public health.