Burning municipal waste produces a great deal of harmful heavy metals, which may lead to elevated exposure in incinerator workers and residents living nearby. However, relevant human exposure studies remain scarce, especially in China. This study aimed to determine the concentrations of ten heavy metals in urine of incinerator workers (n = 119, as the exposed group) and residents living nearby (n = 215, as the control group) from Shenzhen (China), and explore the associations between heavy metal exposure and DNA oxidative stress (indicated by 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine or 8-OHdG) in humans. T...