[Biological markers of interenvironmental distribution of trace elements in the environmental objects]

Priority trace elements were identified in the environmental objects, such as drinking water, atmosphere of residential areas (by their levels in the snow cover), soil, and foodstuffs. The identification of trace elements in the environmental objects revealed various total loads and distribution of trace elements in the study environments of urban and rural areas, which might be largely determined by the degree of interenvironmental transition and the routes of their migration. By identifying of priority trace elements, the authors constructed models describing the correlation of elements in the study conjugate environments and the specific features of their interenvironmental transition in the environment-man system in the urban and rural areas. Paired correlation and multiple regression analyses on the basis of systemic modeling were used to determine a relationship of trace elements in the study environments to the specific features of their interenvironmental transition. Examination of the trace element status of children's hairs and its comparison with the content of trace elements in the environmental objects allowed an association to be determined between the qualitative and quantitative trace element composition of portable water, soil, snow cover, foodstuffs, and the body's biological media. Summing up the findings leads to a conclusion about the origin of trace element pollutions and the possible routes of their entry into the body and allows consideration of the trace elements Zn, Mn, and Ni as markers of biological exposure of the environment while making a sociohygienic monitoring and assessing the risk to human health.