REQUIMTE/LAQV, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida 431, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal.
REQUIMTE/LAQV, Departamento de Ciências Químicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Nov 25;953:176105. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176105. Epub 2024 Sep 6.
Wildland firefighters are exposed to metal(loid)s released during wildfires through vegetation combustion, which also promotes remobilization of accumulated anthropogenic metal(loid)s. Studies biomonitoring metal(loid)s exposure promoted exclusively by wildfire suppression activities are lacking. This work aimed to characterize, for the first time, the impact of real-life wildland firefighting operations on urinary levels of priority pollutant metal(loid)s [14 included in ATSDR, 11 in USEPA, and 4 in Human Biomonitoring for Europe Initiative priority lists] in firefighters. Spot urines were sampled pre-exposure (105 non-smokers, 76 smokers) and post-exposure to firefighting activities (20 non-smokers, 25 smokers); among those, paired samples were collected from 14 non-smoking and 24 smoking firefighters. Smokers displayed significantly higher baseline levels of zinc (28 %), lithium (29 %), cadmium (55 %), rubidium (13 %), and copper (20 %) than non-smokers. Following wildfire suppression, the concentration of the WHO potentially toxic metal(loid)s rose from 2 % to 3 % in smokers and 2 % to 5 % in non-smokers (up to 4 % for all firefighters and up to 5 % in paired samples). Levels of nickel (33-53 %), antimony (45-56 %), and cesium (40-47 %) increased significantly post-exposure in non-smokers (in all firefighters and in paired samples), whose urinary concentrations were generally more impacted by wildfire emissions than those of smokers. Arsenic (80 %) displayed the only significant increase post-exposure in smokers, being the best discriminant of exposure to wildfire emissions in these subjects. Significant positive correlations were found for age and/or career length with cadmium, lead, barium, strontium, and mercury, and for body mass index with arsenic. The reference/guidance values were exceeded for arsenic, zinc, cesium, nickel, antimony, cadmium, lead, thallium, mercury, copper, and cobalt in 1-90 % of firefighters suggesting augmented health risks due to wildfire combating and emphasizing the need of mitigation strategies. This study also provides biomonitoring data to help setting reference values for the occupationally exposed part of population.
野外消防员在扑灭野火的过程中会接触到植被燃烧释放的金属（类），这也促进了积累的人为金属（类）的再移动。目前缺乏专门研究由野外灭火活动引起的生物监测金属（类）暴露的研究。本研究首次旨在描述野外灭火作业对消防员优先污染物金属（类）[ATSDR 中包含的 14 种、USEPA 中的 11 种和欧洲人类生物监测倡议优先清单中的 4 种]尿液水平的影响。在暴露前（105 名不吸烟者，76 名吸烟者）和暴露于野外灭火活动后（20 名不吸烟者，25 名吸烟者）采集了点尿样；其中，从 14 名不吸烟和 24 名吸烟的消防员中采集了配对样本。吸烟者的基线锌（28%）、锂（29%）、镉（55%）、铷（13%）和铜（20%）水平明显高于不吸烟者。在扑灭野火后，不吸烟者和吸烟者体内的世界卫生组织潜在有毒金属（类）浓度分别从 2%上升到 3%和 2%上升到 5%（所有消防员上升到 4%，配对样本上升到 5%）。非吸烟者暴露后镍（33-53%）、锑（45-56%）和铯（40-47%）的水平显著升高（所有消防员和配对样本），其尿液浓度通常比吸烟者更容易受到野火排放的影响。暴露后吸烟者体内的砷（80%）显示出唯一显著增加，是这些人接触野火排放的最佳判别因素。发现年龄和/或职业年限与镉、铅、钡、锶和汞呈显著正相关，与体重指数与砷呈显著正相关。在 1-90%的消防员中，砷、锌、铯、镍、锑、镉、铅、铊、汞、铜和钴的参考/指导值都超过了，这表明由于扑灭野火而增加了健康风险，强调了需要采取缓解策略。本研究还提供了生物监测数据，有助于为职业暴露人群制定参考值。
