Overview
The authors measured lead and cadmium by AAS in soils and in 24 vegetable species harvested from the same fields in five districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and estimated intakes and health risk indices. The main text gives only the range of species means; per-species concentrations are in a supplementary table that is not on file. The filed PDF is the PMC author manuscript.
Key numbers
- Mean lead in edible parts ranged from 1.8 to 11 mg/kg dry weight across species, highest in purslane (Section 3.2, Abstract).
- Cadmium ranged from 0.2 to 1.6 mg/kg; pea had 0.12 mg/kg, the only species below the cited limit (Section 3.2, Abstract).
- Health risk index above 1 for children for nine species, including cauliflower and tomato (Table 2).
Methods (brief)
Edible parts were washed, oven-dried at 65 °C, digested in nitric and perchloric acids and analyzed by AAS in triplicate. Plant and soil reference materials recovered 93% (lead) and 101% (cadmium). Detection limits, sample counts per species and dates are not reported.
Evidence Fitness
Useful as a regional indicator of high lead in field vegetables, but only ranges are printed, and the text conflicts with itself (pea cadmium below the stated range; species order versus the intake table). The per-species supplement was not available. For collard-greens this is a proxy (cabbage, cauliflower, turnip among the species; no collards, and no per-species numbers).