Assessment of potentially toxic element contamination in medicinal plants from a polluted region of India: a study on accumulation and health risks.
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Medicinal plants from India's industrialized Ambagarh Chowki district were analyzed for potentially toxic element (PTE) contamination to assess public health risks. Twenty-three species from 45 locations were examined using ICP-MS, revealing severe contamination from geological sources and anthropogenic activities, including coal-fired power plants and mining operations. Soil arsenic averaged 77.2 mg kg-1 (15-fold above background), with the Nemerow Pollution Index (11.72) indicating heavy pollution. The sum of PTE concentrations varied by species and organ: 10.4-58.9 mg kg-1 (bark), 20.0-144.1 mg kg-1 (leaves), 8.8-74.4 mg kg-1 (mesocarps), and 11.2-113.7 mg kg-1 (seeds). Critical contamination included Moringa oleifera bark (37.6 mg kg-1 Pb), Careya arborea leaves (8.54 mg kg-1 As), and multiple species exceeding international safety limits. Probabilistic health risk assessment using Monte Carlo simulation (10,000 iterations) revealed that 6.2-19.4% of exposure scenarios exceeded safety thresholds depending on plant part and population group, with children showing 1.6-fold higher risk than adults. At the 95th percentile, the cancer risk for children reached 1.19 × 10-3, a value approximately 12 times higher than the acceptable level. Furthermore, between 79 and 91% of the exposure scenarios exceeded the cancer risk thresholds. Sensitivity analysis identified consumption rate as the primary modifiable risk factor. Factor analysis revealed contamination sources: continental crust minerals (41.15% variance), soil parent material (20.09%), and agricultural/industrial activities (12.72%). These findings indicate that traditional medicine practices using locally harvested plants from contaminated areas present elevated health risks that warrant careful evaluation and risk management strategies.