Health risk assessment due to inhalation of heavy metals in PM10 in urban ambient air in San Francisco de campeche, campeche

The present research was focused on the health risk assessment of heavy metals concentrations in Particular Matters PM10 collected in two urban sites of San Francisco de Campeche, Campeche, a city located in the southeast of Mexico. The first sampling site (INAH) is located in the downtown and the second sampling site (TNL) is located within the facilities of the Tecnológico Nacional de México campus Campeche. Airborne PM was analyzed for these heavy metals: Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn. To assess the health risk related to the inhalation of airborne PM10 metals, risk cancer coefficients were determined: Cancer Risk (CR) and Non-Cancer Risk: Hazard Quotient (HQ), considering different age and gender population groups. The results showed that there is possible risk of developing cancer in a lifetime, is higher in the child population. TNL sampling site showed the highest cancer risk coefficients, exceeding the maximum allowable limits established by the U.S. EPA and WHO (1 x10−6 and 1 x 10−5, respectively), being higher for Cadmium and Cobalt (2.09 x 10−6 for both metals). The non-carcinogenic risk exceeded the limits recommended by the U.S. EPA, in both sampling sites, being higher in the INAH sampling site for Cobalt (HQ=28.92). It can be concluded that there is a possible risk of developing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in the study sites due to inhalation of the measured metals present in PM10. It is necessary to carry out continuous monitoring of PM10 and associated heavy metals at different times of the year in the study region to have a better understanding of the effects of these pollutants on the health of the exposed population.