Characterization of environmental exposure to mineral sands by PDMS technique

The risk to human health due to exposure to aerosols depends on the intake pattern, the mass concentration and the speciation of the elements present in airborne particles. In this work plasma desorption mass spectrometry (PDMS) was used to identify the speciation of metals present in the urine sample of an individual environmentally exposed to mineral sands airborne particles. Aerosol samples were collected at a Brazilian region with high concentration of mineral sands (Buena village), using a six-stage cascade impactor. The mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) determined indicated that the airborne particulate was in the fine fraction of the aerosols. In order to characterize human exposure to mineral sands dust a sample from one inhabitant was analyzed by PDMS. The analysis of the results shows that the inhabitant incorporated metals from mineral sands and suggests that the source of aerosols is the mineral processing plant located at the village