Monitoring of environmental pollution with heavy metals in human scalp hair regarding to their areas, gender and ages

AbstractHuman scalp hair is a valuable screen for physiological excess, deficiency or maldistribution of elements. It was considered as a natural pointer for assessment of heavy metals contamination .Heavy metals exposure continues and is increasing in many parts of the world . In this study Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn concentrations were determined in scalp hair (64 samples) male and female hair samples of different ages (7-72 years) . The hair samples were collected from two environmental areas, polluted area (Aswan, Edify, Kom mob), and unpolluted area (West Aswan Island) which considered as a control area . The results show that element concentrations in scalp hair from unpolluted area were lower than those in the polluted ones.Element concentration in the hair samples depends on human gender, but little in their ages. The study ended to that human scalp hair could be used successfully as a bioindicator for the assessment of heavy metal pollution using the atomic absorption spectroscopy techinque.