Heavy metal concentrations in roadside surface soils / Amirul Amin Nasaruddin

The heavy metals in semi-urban soil can give effect to human through inhalation,
dermal contact and ingestion when exposed to this soil directly. In this study, a total
of 15 soil samples were collected at the roadside of Jalan Jengka-Temerloh, Pahang.
This study aims to investigate the concentration of selected heavy metals at the
roadside surface soils, and analyse the health risk assessment (HRA) from different
pathways which are via inhalation and dermal contact. The concentration of Cd
(0.01 mg/kg) in the roadside surface soil was almost similar with control soil value
(0.00 mg/kg), while the concentration of Cr (0.35 mg/kg), Pb (0.43 mg/kg) and Zn
(0.23 mg/kg) were quite higher when compared with control soil. The Hazard Index
(HI) and Life Time Cancer Risk (LCR) were used to estimate the value for both
non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic. In this study, the study area can be considered
as safe zone and place because the value is within the acceptable value. For further
study, it is recommended to analyse other type of heavy metal, for instance arsenic,
mercury and copper which may also give an adverse health effect to human
especially when they exposed in higher concentration