Quantitative and Health Risks Evaluations of Trace Metals in Soils and Cassava Tubers Cultivated in Farms Around Abandoned Ishiagu Mining Sites, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract Contamination of the environment with toxic metals can bring about possible pollution of cassava. Eating food crops contaminated with toxic metals is the main food chain pathway for human exposure. Some trace metals like Manganese, Copper, Zinc, Nickel, Lead, Selenium, Strontium, Niobium, Vanadium, and Iron in soil and their accumulation in cassava tubers collected from farms around abandoned mining sites at Ishiagu in Ebonyi State, Nigeria were analyzed with X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to evaluate the potential health risk to the dweller adults and children. Results show that there is an extensive build-up of toxic metals in farmland soils around the abandoned mining sites at Ishiagu, Ebonyi State. Levels of toxic metals in cassava grown in Farms around the mines were substantially higher (P < 0.05) than in cassava tubers grown in the reference soil, and exceeded the permissible limits set by the World Health Organization. In addition, this investigation reveals that both adults and children consuming cassavas grown in the area ingest appreciable quantities of the metals studied. The health risk indicator quantities of greater than 1 signal a strong presence of health risks connected with the eating of contaminated cassava.