A Study of the Bioavailability and Impact of Habits on the Occupational Exposure of Electronic Repairers to Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd) and Chromium (Cr) in Kaduna Metropolis-Nigeria
A Study of the Bioavailability and Impact of Habits on the Occupational Exposure of Electronic Repairers to Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd) and Chromium (Cr) in Kaduna Metropolis-Nigeria
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2015
Authors
Muhammad, Abubakar Lawal
Adamu, Uzairu
Muhammad, Sani Sallau
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The bioavailability of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr) in blood and urine samples of
electronic repairers in Kaduna-Nigeria was assessed using Fast Sequential Atomic Absorption
Spectrophotometry. The mean blood concentrations of Pb, Cd and Cr in the subjects were
29.33±4.80, 7.78±10.57 and 24.78±21.77μg/dL, respectively. The mean urine concentrations of
Pb, Cd and Cr were 24.18±2.98, 6.81±10.05 and 14.78±4.20μg/dL respectively. Positive Pearson
correlation coefficients were observed between Pb/Cd, Pb/Cr and Cd/Cr in all samples and they
indicate the metals are likely from same pollution source. The mean concentrations of the metals
in all samples were higher than the WHO, ILO and ACGIH standards, implying the repairers are
occupationally exposed and are subject to serious health concerns. Social habits like smoking
were found to significantly affect the concentrations of these metals. The level of education, use of
safety devices, period of exposure, the nature of electronics and the age of the electronic repairers
were also found to remarkably affect the concentrations of the metals. However, the sources of
food eaten at work were found to have no significant effects on the levels of the metals present.
Description
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords
Bioavailability,, Impact of Habits,, lead,, cadmium,, chromium,, occupational exposure,, electronic repairers.