Health risk assessment of heavy metals in soil and vegetables from major agricultural sites of Ohio and West Virginia

Contamination of soil and crops with heavy metals (HMs) poses a significant environmental challenge in the United States, while the status of metal contamination and associated health risks have been merely studied. Hence, this study aimed to assess metal contamination in major agricultural sites of Ohio and West Virginia, and evaluate the potential health risks associated with consuming metal-contaminated vegetables. Among the agricultural sites studied, Fe was the most predominant contaminant in all the sampling sites, ranging from 28,410 to 67,306 mg/kg of soil, exceeding the permissible limit of the US-EPA. Whereas Cd was the least contaminant, exceeding the permissible limit only in three sampling sites (ME1, ME3, and ME6), ranging from 0.13 to 2.91 mg/kg of soil. Interestingly, range of metals in vegetable samples were within the permissible limits. Principal component and hierarchical cluster analysis indicated the different natural and anthropogenic sources of metals in soil. In noncarcinogenic health risk assessment, the values of EDI, TEDI, THQ and HI levels for all the metals were lower than their daily uptake. However, CR and TCR assessment reveal significant risks associated with Ni exposure for both adults and children, with values of 3.487E-4 and 1.172E-3, and 5.362E-4 and 1.286E-3, respectively, within these agricultural sites. Therefore, regular monitoring of metal concentrations in soil and vegetables, as well as associated health risks, is strongly recommended to prevent potential health hazards in the future.