Abstract: To explore the characteristics of 16 kinds of PAHs pollution in edible part of aquatic and terrestrial vegetables, 4 kinds of aquatic vegetables and terrestrial vegetables located in the same area were collected for analyzing the content and composition of PAHs in vegetables. Meanwhile, the health risk assessment of PAHs in vegetables was also investigated. The results show that the contents of G_16PAHs in the soils of aquatic vegetable fields was 1 235.24 μg·kg^-1, higher than those in terrestrial vegetable soils (1 006.22 μg·kg^-1). Moverover, the contents of 5 and 6-ring PAHs and 7 PAHs (G_c7PAHs) attributed to Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (R_ILC) were also significantly higher than those in soils of terrestrial vegetable fields. In addition, except the location of Hezhou City, the contents of 6-ring PAHs and G_c7PAHs in edible part of aquatic vegetables were significantly higher than those in terrestrial vegetables too. By contrast, the rates of 2 and 3-ring PAHs in terrestrial vegetables were all over 50%, all significantly higher than those in aquatic vegetables. The edible part of vegetables was mainly contaminated by the low molecular weight of PAHs, and their contents were all higher than those of high molecular weight of PAHs. It was also found that there was a positive correlation between the contents of 5-ring PAHs, 6-ring PAHs and G_16PAHs in aquatic vegetables and those in soils. And there was the same correlation between the contents of 5-ring PAHs and G_c7PAHs in terrestrial vegetables and those in soils, but difference was not significant (P > 0.05). The R_ILC for human being under different ages, which was induced by PAHs-contaminated vegetables, was in an order of child > adult > senior > adolescent. And the value of R_ILC for male in adult and senior stages was higher than that in female. Meanwhile, the R_ILC of PAHs in different vegetables was in an order of leafy vegetables > fruit vegetables > aquatic vegetables.

Key words: aquatic vegetables, terrestrial vegetables, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pollution characteristics, cancer risk