Environmental metal contamination and health impact assessment in two industrial regions of Romania Mirela Nedelescu a,b, ⁎, Daniela Baconi c, ⁎⁎, Aurora Neagoe d , Virgil Iordache d , Miriana Stan c , Paula Constantinescu d , Anne-Marie Ciobanu c , Alexander I. Vardavas f , Marco Vinceti e , Aristidis M. Tsatsakis f a “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, 8 EroiiSanitari Blvd, Bucharest, Romania b National Institute of Public Health, Department of Food Hygiene and Nutrition,1-3 Leonte Street, Bucharest, Romania c “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, 6 TraianVuia Street, Bucharest, Romania d University of Bucharest, Faculty of Biology, Research Centre for Ecological Services, 91-95 SplaiulIndependentei, Bucharest, Romania e Environmental, Genetic and Nutritional Epidemiology Research Center - CREAGEN, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy f Department of Forensic Sciences and Toxicology, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece HIGHLIGHTS • The pollution with heavy metals in two Romanian industrial areas is still alarming. • High levels of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn in soil and vegetables samples are revealed. • Transfer factors show a great bioaccu- mulation of heavy metal in vegetables. • Daily intake of Pb and Cd in resident population exceeds the EFSA limits. • The need of immediate soil remediation actions is highlighted. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 15 August 2016 Received in revised form 8 December 2016 Accepted 8 December 2016 Available online xxxx Editor: D. Barcelo We investigated two Romanian industrial regions– Copşa Mică and Zlatna, to assess the current situation of soil pollution and bioaccumulation of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn in different vegetable species and possible risks to consumers. Both total and mobile forms of the metals were determined in soil samples, and metal content in the edible parts of root vegetable samples was also assessed. The concentrations of Pb and Zn in soil were higher in Copşa Mică than in Zlatna (566 mg/kg vs 271 mg/kg for Pb and 1143 mg/kg vs 368 mg/kg for Zn)·The metal mobility in soil from Copsa Mica decreases in the order Zn N Cu N Cd N Pb (1.88 mg/kg, 0.40 mg/kg, 0.22 mg/kg, 0.16 mg/kg, respectively), while in Zlatna, the order was Cu N Zn N Pb N Cd (0.88 mg/kg, 0.29 mg/kg, 0.04 mg/kg, 0.01 mg/kg, respectively), apparently depending on metal and soil conditions. In Copsa Mica, the amount of Pb and Cd in vegetable samples exceeded the maxi- mum permissible limits in carrots (median concentration 0.32 mg/kg for Pb and Cd) and in yellow onions (me- dian concentration 0.24 mg/kg for Cd). In Zlatna region, the content of Cd exceeded the maximum limits in Keywords: Dietary intake Potentially toxic elements Soil Science of the Total Environment xxx (2016) xxx–xxx Abbreviations: DIR, daily intake rate of metals; EC, electrical conductivity; Eh, redox potential; Hb, hemoglobin; FAAS, flame atomic absorption spectrometry; GFAAS, graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry; ICP-MS, mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma; PTDI, provisional tolerable weekly intake; PTWI, provisional tolerable weekly intake; rpm, rotations per minute; TF, metal transfer factor soil to plant. ⁎ Corresponding author. ⁎⁎ Correspondence to: D. Baconi, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, 6 Traian Vuia Street, Bucharest, Romania. E-mail addresses: nedelescu_mirela@yahoo.com (M. Nedelescu), daniela_baconi@yahoo.com (D. Baconi). STOTEN-21574; No of Pages 12 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.12.053 0048-9697/© 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv Please cite this article as: Nedelescu, M., et al., Environmental metal contamination and health impact assessment in two industrial regions of Romania, Sci Total Environ (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.12.053