Description
The determination of potentially toxic elements in soils with which children have regular contact can provide valuable information to support health risk assessment. It is also important to engage schoolchildren with environmental geochemistry so that they become well-informed adult citizens. The Soils in Scottish Schools project (2017-18) created teaching resources to assist secondary school pupils gain a deeper appreciation of the importance of soil and involved them in scientific research through sampling of soils from school grounds for trace element analysis.Soil samples collected by second year pupils from 43 secondary schools across Scotland were subjected to microwave-assisted aqua-regia digestion and the simplified bioaccessibility extraction test [1], followed by the determination of copper, lead and zinc by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Results varied widely, as would be expected given the diverse locations sampled, with pseudototal concentrations: Cu 15.6-220 mg kg-1; Pb 24.6-479 mg kg-1 and Zn 52.5-860 mg kg-1 and bioaccessible concentrations: Cu 3.94-126 mg kg-1; Pb 6.29-216 mg kg-1 and Zn 4.38-549 mg kg-1. Levels of all three analytes were generally higher in proximity to Glasgow, which was historically the industrial hub of the country and home to heavy manufacturing industries including steelmaking and shipbuilding.
Although concentrations of copper and zinc exceeded the Dutch intervention values [2] in a few samples, and average lead bioaccessibility was >40% of pseudototal concentrations at some locations, there was no indication of health risk to children who accidentally ingest soil whilst at play during breaks in the school day.
1. United States Environment Protection Agency. Standard Operating Procedure for an In Vitro Bioaccessibility Assay for Lead in Soil, 9200.2-86, Environment Agency, 2012.
2. Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment. Circular on target and intervention values for soil remediation, Netherlands Government Gazette, 2000.
| Period | 2019 |
|---|---|
| Event title | 35th International Conference on Geochemistry and Health : SEGH 2019 |
| Event type | Conference |
| Conference number | 35 |
| Location | Manchester, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |