EVALUATION OF HEAVY METALS AND PESTICIDES CONTENTS IN MARKET-GARDENING PRODUCTS SOLD

Description

Pesticides and heavy metals are persistent organic pollutants responsible for immune deficiency, certain types of cancer, and decreased length of pregnancy. In this study, 20 chemical pesticides and 4 heavy metals were detected from 120 samples of 4 types of vegetables and 40 samples of babenda collected from Ouagadougou principal markets.A multi-residue method was developed to detect the pesticides in the samples collected by gas chromatography, with micro electron capture detector. The concentration of cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic was obtained using an atomic absorption spectrometer. Residues of pesticides were detected in 87% of the samples, and among the positive samples, 58.40% contained concentrations higher than the limit of maximum residue (LMR). The relative abundance of heavy metals in the vegetables followed the sequence Cd (0.018 mg.kg -1)