Health Risk of Toxic Heavy Metals on the Human Body via Contaminated Dust and Their Mitigation in Pakistan

Abstract

Dust contamination is a challenging atmospheric issue that poses a major ecotoxicological risk to both the environment and human health. The presence of toxic heavy metals (HM's) in dust can put human health at risk if inhaled, ingested or via dermal contact. They can cause severe health problems, resulting in widespread mortality and morbidity. Therefore, it is crucial to develop eco-friendly ways and the appropriate strategies to minimize HM's in dust to build a healthy environment. The purpose of this systematic review is to present evidence-based information about the sources of HM's-containing dust, its effects on human health and the mitigation strategies that must be implemented in Pakistan, as well as to highlight the research gap in this area. The most illustrious database, Science Direct (SD), was used to conduct the online literature search and the first step involved identifying 109 review papers and 199 research articles from Pakistan that had been published in peer-reviewed journals between 2015 and 2023. According to the literature research, there are numerous sources and health risks of dust-containing HM's that need to be minimized and in a changing environment we found that phytoremediation is a good option for reducing toxic HM's in dust.