 at the end of december 1993 and also at the end of january 1995 , the river meuse , one of the major rivers in europe , flooded and river banks were inundated . 
 we investigated the possible health risks of exposure to heavy metal concentrations in river bank soils resulting from the flooding of the river meuse at the end of 1993 . 
 soil and deposit samples and corresponding aerable and fodder crops were collected and analyzed for heavy metals . 
 although the soils of the floodplain of the river meuse appeared severely polluted mainly by cd and zn , the heavy metal concentrations in the crops grown on these soils were within background ranges . 
 incidentally , the legal standard for cd as endorsed by the commodities act was exceeded in wheat crops . 
 the main exposure pathways for the general population were through the consumption of food crops grown on the river banks and through the direct ingestion of contaminated soils . for estimating potential human exposure in relation to soil pollution 
 , we used a multiple pathway exposure model . for estimating the actual risk , we determined metal contents of vegetables grown in six experimental gardens . from this study 
 , it can be concluded that there is a potential health risk for the river bank inhabitants as a consequence of pb and cd contaminations of the floodplain soils of the river meuse , which are frequently inundated ( averaged flooding frequency once every 2 years).imagesfigure 1figure 2 
Images