Acute toxicity assessment of crude lead-extract from electronic waste materials in Nigeria

Abstract

Lead, with its toxic emission and pollution, is one of the hazardous chemical components of electronic wastes (e-wastes) rapidly generated in developing countries. This study assessed the environmental health effects of crude lead extracted from e-wastes materials, as determined by its acute toxicity (rat, oral). Diluted HNO₃ and hot concentrated HCl tests were used to confirm the presence of lead in the extract. LD₅₀ (400 mg/kg) showed higher toxicity than the lowest toxic dose of 790 mg/kg reported in literature. There was a perfect positive correlation between the log dose and dead percentage, which was significant at 0.014, with 0.99° of confidence. The R² (0.839) and significance F (0.029) showed high reliability. In view of this, we recommend the inclusion of enlightenment and making/enforcing adequate policies for improved management and control of e-waste materials.

Key words: Environmental health effect, toxic chemical component, e-waste.