Summary:

The aim of the study was to compare the levels of cadmium and lead in livers, kidneys and wool / hair / of sheep and goats reared in the vicinity of the steelworks in Nowa Huta in Kraków and in the control field, Rożniatów, in which there was no emitters of heavy metals. Samples were collected post mortem from one-year old animals of one breed (within a species) and one sex, who had lived from birth in the studied areas. Both species were fed with the same fodder and have remained in the same places. Wet mineralization was applied (mixture of nitric acid (V) and chloric (VII) (3: 1)) metal determination was done by a FASA method. The levels of the metals depend on the species, on the test areas and on the collected part of the animal. Tissues from sheep contained more cadmium and lead than the tissue of goats. The highest cadmium content was found in the kidney, lower in the liver, the lowest in the hair / wool of tested animals. Goat kidneys from both areas of research and sheep kidneys from Rożniatów meet consumer standards for cadmium. However, 20% of sheep kidneys sampled from Nowa Huta district exceeded the standards for cadmium. The lead content of both species exceeded the limit in all of the kidneys and livers from Nowa Huta district. In Rożniatów the standards were not fulfilled for all kidneys and livers of goats, and all kidneys and 70% of the livers of sheep.