Abstract:
Cancer and non-cancer risk assessment from exposure to As, Cd, and Cu by
resident adults and children from different water sources in Obuasi Municipality,
Ghana, were measured in this study in accordance with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency’s (USEPA’s) Human Health Risk Assessment guidelines. The
results of cancer health risk for resident adults in Obuasi exposed to As in their
tap water for both Central Tendency Exposure (CTE) and Reasonable Maximum
Exposure (RME) parameters, respectively, are 6.6 × 10-4 and 5.5 × 10-6. For resident
children in Odumasi, we obtained 4.7 × 10-1 (CTE) and 6.7 × 10-1 (RME). The
results of the study obtained in most cases were found to exceed the USEPA’s
acceptable cancer risk range of 1 × 10-6 to 1 × 10-4 (i.e., 1 case of cancer out of
1,000,000 people to 1 case of cancer out of 10,000 people). Similarly, the results of
the non-cancer human health risk for both resident adults and children were also
found in most cases to be greater than the USEPA’s acceptable non-cancer human
health hazard index of 1
