Tong Lei, Yang Aoran, Fan Mingyue, Zheng Daikun, Li Ji, Liu Hanlin, Li Chenggen, Tang Yongqiong, Cheng Longfeng
School of Public Health and Management, Chongqing Three Gorges Medical College, Chongqing, China.
Department of Environment and Food Hygiene, Chongqing Wanzhou District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Chongqing, China.
Front Public Health. 2025 Jul 31;13:1637595. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1637595. eCollection 2025.
Heavy metal contamination in agricultural ecosystems poses significant risks to human health. Metals accumulating in soil-crop systems can be absorbed and concentrated by crops. Chronic exposure through the consumption of contaminated crops may lead to severe health consequences. This study investigated eight common heavy metals (Cd, Ni, As, Cu, Hg, Pb, Cr, Zn) in the soil-crop system of Wanzhou District, Chongqing City, and performed a probabilistic risk analysis using Monte Carlo simulation. The study results show that for non-carcinogenic risks, the total hazard quotient for adults (2.365) and children (1.176) both exceed the safety threshold of 1.0, with As contributing significantly to population health risk. For carcinogenic risks, the total carcinogenic risk for adults (2.28 × 103) and children (1.11 × 103) significantly surpass the unacceptable risk level of 1.0 × 104, with As, Cr, Cd, and Ni presenting particularly high carcinogenic risks to the population. Additionally, the sensitivity analysis revealed that the concentration (C) of heavy metals in crops is a key exposure parameter influencing the health risks for both adults and children. Given the significant contributions of As, Cr, Cd, and Ni to health risks, these metals should be prioritized for monitoring and control. Long-term intake of crops with excessive heavy metal content increases health risks, highlighting the urgent need to address heavy metal pollution in urban fragmented farmland soil-crop systems.
农业生态系统中的重金属污染对人类健康构成重大风险。土壤-作物系统中积累的金属可被作物吸收并富集。通过食用受污染作物的长期接触可能导致严重的健康后果。本研究调查了重庆市万州区土壤-作物系统中的八种常见重金属（镉、镍、砷、铜、汞、铅、铬、锌），并使用蒙特卡洛模拟进行了概率风险分析。研究结果表明，对于非致癌风险，成年人（2.365）和儿童（1.176）的总危害商均超过安全阈值1.0，其中砷对人群健康风险贡献显著。对于致癌风险，成年人（2.28×10⁻³）和儿童（1.11×10⁻³）的总致癌风险显著超过可接受风险水平1.0×10⁻⁴，其中砷、铬、镉和镍对人群呈现特别高的致癌风险。此外，敏感性分析表明，作物中重金属的浓度（C）是影响成年人和儿童健康风险的关键暴露参数。鉴于砷、铬、镉和镍对健康风险的显著贡献，应优先对这些金属进行监测和控制。长期摄入重金属含量过高的作物会增加健康风险，凸显了解决城市碎片化农田土壤-作物系统中重金属污染问题的紧迫性。
