Herbicide and pesticide occurrence in the soils of children's playgrounds in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Pesticide pollution in Sarajevo public playgrounds is an important health and environmental issue, and the lack of information about it is causing concerns amongst the general population as well as researchers. Since children are in direct contact with surface soils on children's playgrounds, such soils should be much more carefully examined. Furthermore, herbicides and pesticides get transmitted from soil surfaces brought from outside the urban areas, or they get dispersed following their direct applications in urban areas. Infants' and children's health can be directly affected by polluted soils because of the inherent toxicity and widespread use of the different pesticides in urban environments such as playgrounds. In addition to that, the presence of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) wood preservative pesticide found as soil pollutant in playing equipment was also documented. Soil samples from playgrounds were collected and analyzed for triazines, carbamates, dithiocarbamates, phenolic herbicides and organochlorine pesticides. Samples for the determination of heavy metals Cu, Cr and As were prepared by microwave-assisted acid digestion, and the findings were determined by using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer. Triazines, carbamates, dithiocarbamates, chlorphenoxy compounds, phenolic herbicides, organochlorine pesticides and organotin compounds were detected in playground soils and their determined concentrations (mg/kg) were respectively found as follows: <0.005, <0.05, <0.5, <0.4, <0.1, <0.001 and <0.004. The determined contents (mg/kg) of Cu, Cr and As were in the ranges from 16.77 to 80.21, from 7.14 to 15.45 and from 3.31 to 4.43, respectively. Our preliminary results raise concerns about potential adverse effects of herbicides and pesticides on human health, which strengthens the case for a more preventative and protective approach to the uncontrolled presence of herbicides and pesticides in Sarajevo's playground soils.