Potential human health risk assessment of heavy metals via the consumption of tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus collected from contaminated and uncontaminated ponds

Abstract

Fish tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus were collected from a contaminated Seri Serdang (SS) pond potentially receiving domestic effluents and an uncontaminated pond from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). The fish were dissected into four parts namely gills, muscles, intestines, and liver. All the fish parts were pooled and analyzed for the concentrations of Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn. Generally, the concentrations of all metals were low in the edible muscle in comparison to the other parts of the fish. It was found that the levels of all the heavy metals in the different parts of fish collected from the SS were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those from UPM, indicating greater metal bioavailabilities in the SS pond. The sediment data also showed a similar pattern with significantly (P<0.05) higher metal concentrations in SS than in UPM, indicating higher metal contamination in SS. Potential health risk assessments based on provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) and the amount of fish required to reach the PTWI values, estimated daily intake (EDI), and target hazard quotient (THQ) indicated that health risks associated with heavy metal exposure via consumption of the fish's muscles were insignificant to human. Therefore, the consumption of the edible muscles of tilapia from both ponds should pose no toxicological risk of heavy metals since their levels are also below the recommended safety guidelines. While it is advisable to discard the livers, gills, and intestines of the two tilapia fish populations before consumption, there were no potential human health risks of heavy metals to the consumers on the fish muscle part.

Copper and Zinc Levels in Commercial Marine Fish from Setiu, East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

“…They were then placed in a hot block digester for an hour at 40 • C for a pre-digestion purpose. Later, the temperature was increased to 140 • C for three hours to fully digest the samples [65,66].…”

Human Health Risk Assessment of Trace Metals in the Commonly Consumed Fish Species in Nakuru Town, Kenya

“…55 THQs of Cd, Cu, and Pb were summed to generate a hazard index using equation 3. 56 Assuming additive effects, HI is a measure of the potential risk of adverse health effects from more than 1 element. 5,54 HI greater than 1 suggests likelihood of adverse effects on human health and the necessity for further action.…”

“…5,54 If the computed ratio is greater than 1, the exposed population is likely to develop adverse health effects. 55,56,66 According to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), if the computed THQ value is greater than 1 but less than 5, the risk is low; if it is greater than 5 but less than 10, the risk is moderate; however, if the THQ value is greater than 10, the risk is high. 67 Computed THQ values of Cd and Cu were all below 1, suggesting that health effects associated with Cd and Cu are unlikely to occur.…”

Potential human health risk assessment of trace metals via the consumption of marine fish in Persian Gulf

“…To avoid contamination, all laboratory equipment used during metal analysis was first rinsed with distilled water and left in 10% HNO 3 for 24 h, then rinsed again (twice) with double-distilled water and left to dry at room temperature within a fume hood. Sample preparation for metal analysis followed the method of Hajeb et al, 2009 andYap et al, 2015. Approximately 0.5 g of homogenized fish tissue was weighed and digested in a 10 ml combination (4:1 ratio) of concentrated HNO 3 (AnalaRgrade, R&M Chemicals 65%) and HClO 4 (AnalaR grade, R&M Chemicals 70%).…”

“…The RfD values (μg kg −1 day −1 ) provided by the USEPA's regional screening level were 1.0 for Cd, 40.0 for Cu, 20.0 for Ni and 300.0 for Zn (USEPA, 2015). The European Protection Agency has declined to set a RfD for Pb because it has found no evidence of a threshold below which a non-harmful intake could be allowed (USEPA, 2004;Copat et al, 2012;Yap et al, 2015).…”