2019 Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 127-136
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining site in Gunung Pongkor, Bogor, had been contaminated with a high level of toxic chemicals. Long term exposure to toxic chemicals can cause adverse health effects among residents living around the mining area. To assess these issue, a total of 101 residents consisting of 60 adults, 15 teenagers, and 26 school age children were involved in a public health risk assessment study to estimate health risks from exposures to mercury, chromium, iron, manganese, arsenic, and selenium through ingestion of drinking water (n = 12) and foods (n = 45). The results showed that only mercury and hexavalent chromium had unacceptable life span noncarcinogenic risk quotient (RQ)>1. RQs of mercury among adult, teenager, and school age children were 22.2, 21.1, and 21.4,respectively, extremely high compared to chromium of only 1.4, 1.3, and 1.5 respectively. Arsenic, the only carcinogen, produced unacceptable lifetime excess cancer risk (ECR) of 2.04E-4, 5.23E-5, and 2.83E-5 in adults, teenager, and children, respectively, of which only adult ECR was unacceptable. In contrast, dietary intakes of iron and selenium were deficient. While skin problems including skin rashes, hyperpigmentation, and thickening were observed that might be associated with arsenic carcinogenicity, trivalent chromium intake was slightly excessive. In conclusion, mercury and hexavalent chromium were critical contaminants of overload exposure, whereas arsenic, trivalent chromium, and selenium were also crucial since indication of some related adverse health effects had already been observed.
