Monitoring metals in the population living in the vicinity of a hazardous waste incinerator: concentrations in autopsy tissues.

This study is a part of a monitoring program for the determination of metals in various human tissues of the population living in the vicinity of a new hazardous waste incinerator (HWI) in Constantí (Tarragona County, Spain). Concentrations of arsenic (As), beryllium (Be), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), tin (Sn), thallium (Tl), and vanadium (V) were determined in brain, bone, kidney, liver, and lung autopsy samples collected in 2003 from 22 individuals who had been living for at least 10 yr in the area under evaluation. Results were compared with the metal levels obtained in a baseline study, which was performed during the construction of the HWI (1996--1998). In the present survey, As, Be, Tl, and V levels were not detected in any of the analyzed tissues, while Cr concentrations were very close to the limit of detection. The highest levels of Cd and Hg were found in kidney (17.46 microg/g and 0.23 microg/g, respectively), those of Mn in liver (1.07 microg/g), and those of Ni, Pb, and Sn in bone (1.16 microg/g, 2.11 microg/g, and 0.34 microg/g, respectively). In comparison to the results of the baseline study, a general reduction of most metal concentrations was observed in the current survey.