Dioxins and Related Compounds in Sediment and Soil from Craft Villages and Industrial Areas in Northern Vietnam.

This study focuses on the determination of dioxins and related compounds (DRCs) in sediment and soil samples gathered from craft villages and industrial zones in Bac Ninh province, northern Vietnam. The PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs levels in sediment samples ranged from 8.34 to 1302 pg/g and 34.5 to 3186 pg/g, respectively, and total equivalent toxicity (TEQ) of DRCs ranged from 0.596 to 88.1 pgTEQ/g. The total mass concentration of DRCs in the soil samples varied from 14.2 to 4857 pg/g, with corresponding total TEQ values ranging from 0.387 to 2.61 pgTEQ/g. Risk assessment based on sediment quality guideline indicators shows that DRCs at paper recycling village had moderate adverse biological effect. Some soil samples collected in industrial clusters have total carcinogenic risk (CR) values close to the threshold (1.0 × 10^-6). Based on the results, it is necessary to continue monitoring and evaluating DRC compounds in craft village and industrial cluster environments and have remediation solutions to reduce these contaminated compounds.