SLURRY SAMPLING ELECTROTHERMAL ATOMIC-ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRIC DETERMINATION OF LEAD, CADMIUM AND MANGANESE IN HUMAN HAIR SAMPLES USING RAPID ATOMIZER PROGRAMS

Rapid methods for the determination of lead, cadmium and manganese in human scalp hair by ETAAS using rapid atomizer programs and deuterium are background correction have been developed, Samples were powdered b y means of a zirconia vibrating ball mill over a period of 20 min (mea n particle size less than 1 mu m) Then 0.1 g of the powder was suspend ed in a few mi of water and diluted to 25 mi, An optimum drying temper ature of 250 degrees C was found for lead, cadmium and manganese. Opti mum atomization temperatures of 2200 and 1900 degrees C were found for cadmium and manganese, and for lead, respectively, The program cycles were 38 s for cadmium and lead, and 37 s for manganese. Glycerol, at an optimum concentration of 0.4% m/v, was used as a stabilizing agent, Simple aqueous calibration was used for all analytes. The limits of d etection were 0.03, 0.05 and 0.04 mg kg(-1) for cadmium, lead and mang anese, respectively, Accuracy was studied by analysing CRM 397 human h air, and the cadmium and lead levels were found to be in accordance wi th the certified accuracy values, The levels of metals obtained were i n agreement with those previously reported for healthy people in Europ e, i.e., less than 3.0 and 0.3 mg kg(-1) for lead and cadmium, respect ively.