ABSTRACT
Vegetables (n = 87) were sampled from two adjacent villages in Noakhali district of Bangladesh. Vegetables [Red amaranth (n = 9), radish tuber (n = 3), radish leaf (n = 10), pumpkin leaf (n = 11), gourd leaf (n = 14, coriander leaf (n = 4), papaya (n = 3), arum leaf (n = 6), arum stem (n = 3), arum tuber (n = 2), bean (n = 10), Indian spinach (n = 5), spinach (n = 3), green chili (n = 2), eggplant (n = 2)] were washed three times with tap water followed by deionized water (twice). They were dried in an open air for 24 h, followed by oven drying at 65 °C to complete dryness. Then the samples were homogenized by grinding, and were digested using concentrated nitric acid (Rahman et al. 2009). Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to determine As, Cd and Pb concentrations in the tested vegetables. Tomato leaves (SRM 1573a) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA was used to verify the analysis results of As, Cd and Pb. The certified values of As and Cd in tomato leaves (n = 3) were 112 ± 4 μg/kg, and 1520 ± 40 μg/kg, respectively. No values were available given for Pb. The observed values for As and Cd were 119 ± 3 μg/kg and 1460 ± 60 μg/kg, respectively.
