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Factors affecting heavy metal content of garden vegetables

1980; Elsevier BV; Volume: 1; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0143-148x(80)90030-0

1878-0695

James R. Preer, Harkewal S. Sekhon, Bernard R Stephens, Margaret S. Collins,

Heavy metals in environment

Analyse of soil and vegetables from gardens in metropolitan Boston and Washington, DC indicate the existence of elevated Pb and Cd contents in some gardens. The analytical method involves dry ashing of dry, powdered vegetable samples and shows both improved sensitivity over wet ashing and good agreement with certified values for Pb and Cd in NBS Standard Reference Materials. The heavy metal content of the vegetables analysed shows a strong dependence on the edible part, garden fruits being lower in heavy metals than leafy or root vegetables. Species differences in Pb and Cd uptake among leafy vegetables have been observed. Elevated Pb content has been found in leafy vegetables grown near heavy traffic and in leafy and root vegetables from gardens with high soil Pb content.