Heavy metals availability for plants in a mining area from North-Western Romania

An important concern for human health is the uptake of contaminants by plants from soil and their consumption by humans. The concentrations of heavy metals (lead, copper, cadmium) in the soil and plant samples collected from a village near sedimentation ponds, north-western Romania have been determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry after aqua regia digestion and by inductively coupled mass spectrometry after water extraction for soil, and acid microwave digestion for plants. Plant uptake factors were calculated for home grown vegetables (tomatoes, carrots) in this area. Correlation analysis identified a strong relationship between metals concentrations in soil and vegetables. The results of this study revealed that the consumption of vegetables grown in the vicinity of industrial areas pose a significant health risk to humans.