Impacts of a lead smelter in East Java, Indonesia: degree of contamination, spatial distribution, ecological risk, and health risk assessment of potentially toxic elements in soils

This study investigates the characteristics of potentially toxic elements in soils collected from the vicinity of a lead smelter in East Java, Indonesia. The objective is to assess the impact of the lead smelter on the surrounding soil. The study involves chemical composition analysis, spatial distribution mapping, and potential ecological and health risk assessments. Soil samples were collected from the surface area (0-10 cm) and subsurface (15-30 cm) within radii of 1.5 km, 3 km, and 5 km from the lead smelter. The samples were analyzed for As, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to identify the sources of potentially toxic elements in the soil. The results indicate severe Pb contamination within a 1.5 km radius of the smelter, with an average contamination factor (Cf) value of 22.0, posing a high potential health risk. The contamination factor indicated that the soils were heavily polluted by As and Pb and moderately polluted by Cu, Ni, and Zn. The results of PCA showed that smelter releases are the main source of potentially toxic element contamination in the soil, accounting for 66.2%. The health risk assessment suggested that the children and adults in the study region were exposed to non-carcinogenic risks caused by As and Pb. Oral ingestion was identified as the primary exposure route impacting health risks. The carcinogenic risk from potentially toxic elements in soil was found to exceed the acceptable level for children and adults in the study region. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to take effective measures, including designing regulations and interventions, and improving lead smelter management to mitigate potential contamination and minimize the impact of lead smelter releases on the surrounding environment, especially to protect human health, particularly that of children.

Characterization of Micronutrients in Tofu from Several Cities in Java Island Indonesia

Tofu is a traditional food such as curd made from soymilk with additional coagulants which is widely consumed by people in Indonesia and Asian countries. Tofu is one of the important sources of micronutrients, such as cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn). Therefore, the content of various elements both toxic and essential need to be studied to ensure the food safety and estimating their contribution to daily intake.

METHODS

In this research, the determination of micronutrient content in tofu was carried out in the samples collected from traditional market in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, West, Central and East Java Provinces during the period 2010-2014. Determination of elemental concentration was carried out using neutron activation analysis (NAA) methods.

RESULTS

Analysis result showed that the elemental concentrations of Co, Cr, Fe, Se and Zn in tofu were in the range of 0.001-0.27; ≤0.001-0.35; ≤0.050-62.90; ≤0.0046-5.34 and 0.02-21.19 mg/kg respectively. The daily intake value of tofu is calculated by estimating their contribution based on the concentration and consumption data. The average daily intake of Co, Cr, Fe, Se and Zn contributes to 1.33-11.95; 2.10-2.93; 2.66-5.99, 13.1 and 1.95-2.69% of RDA values for adult women and men.

CONCLUSIONS

The analysis shows that there are variations in the concentration of micronutrients contained in tofu from the five provinces. Tofu has contributed RDA of Co, Cr, Fe, Se, and Zn in almost all regions observed, tofu consumption contributed only a low fraction of RDA value for an adult.

Determinations of Minerals Composition of Rices in Java Island, Indonesia

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the staple foods widely consumed by Indonesian people. They usually have rice as the biggest portion on their diet, therefore rice becomes the main source of nutrients of Indonesian people mainly for those whom live in Java Islands. Although rice is known to contain various minerals, but the minerals level are varied based on differences in geographic region associated with soil quality. Hence, quantity and quality of minerals content of rice from different regions of the world are particularly important to be characterized. The present aim of the study was to assess the composition of mineral of rice from different geographical regions in Java Islands, Indonesia using nuclear analytical techniques i.e. Neutron Activation Analysis method... Quality control of data analysis was assessed using SRM NIST Rice Flour 1568a and gave good results with accuracy (% bias) ≤5% and precision (%CV) less than 10%. The essential elements contents such as Fe, Zn, and Se were quantified and found in the range of 2.8-60.9, 2.48-28.8, and 0.01-2.17 mg/kg respectively, while for the toxic elements, Cr and Co in rice are also quantified and found in the range of 0.03-1.24 and 0.003-0.59 mg/kg, respectivelyThe elemental concentrations in rices from Java Island followed the order Zn>Fe>Se>Cr>Co. It also found that rices from East Java Province have higher concentrations of Fe and Se, while the highest mean of Zn concentration was found in the rices from Jakarta province. The daily intake of those elements in rices give significant contribution to their RDA values. These results of mineral contents in rice hopefully can be used as one of references for estimating daily nutritional intake status of especially Javanese people.