Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Sep 6;8(9):e75007.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075007. eCollection 2013.

Health risk assessment of heavy metals in rice to the population in Zhejiang, China

Zhu Huang  1 , Xiao-Dong Pan, Ping-Gu Wu, Jian-Long Han, Qing Chen
Affiliations

Health risk assessment of heavy metals in rice to the population in Zhejiang, China

Zhu Huang et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Environmental pollution with toxic heavy metals can lead to the possible contamination of the rice. Selected metals (As, Cd, Hg and Pb) and their accumulation in rice collected from Zhejiang, China were analyzed to evaluate the potential health risk to the local adults and children. The mean levels found in rice were as follows: As, 0.080 mg/kg; Cd, 0.037 mg/kg; Hg, 0.005 mg/kg; Pb, 0.060 mg/kg. The estimated daily intakes (EDIs) were calculated in combination of the rice consumption data. The mean intakes of As, Cd, Hg and Pb through rice were estimated to be 0.49, 0.23, 0.03 and 0.37 µg/kg bw/day for adults, and 0.34, 0.29, 0.04 and 0.47 µg/kg bw/day for children. The 97.5th percentile (P97.5) daily intakes of As, Cd, Hg and Pb were 1.02, 0.64, 0.37 and 1.26 µg/kg bw/day for adults, and 0.63, 0.83, 0.47 and 1.63 µg/kg bw/day for children. The risk assessment in mean levels showed that health risk associated with these elements through consumption of rice was absent. However, estimates in P97.5 level of Cd and Pb for children, and Hg for adults have exceeded the respective safe limits.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Simple map of the sampling areas of Zhejiang province, China.
Figure 2
Figure 2. The spatial distribution of the As, Cd, Hg and Pb in rice from Zhejiang province, China.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. FAOSTAT (2011) FAO Statistical databases. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Available: http://faostat.fao.org/site/339/default.aspx. Accessed 1 May 2013.
    1. UNCTAD (2011) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Available: http://www.unctad.org/infocomm/anglais/rice/market.htm2011. Accessed 1 May 2013.
    1. Fu J, Zhou Q, Liu J, Liu W, Wang T, et al. (2008) High levels of heavy metals in rice (Oryza sativa L.) from a typical E-waste recycling area in southeast China and its potential risk to human health. Chemosphere 71: 1269–1275 doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2007.11.065 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zhao K, Liu X, Xu J, Selim HM (2010) Heavy metal contaminations in a soil–rice system: Identification of spatial dependence in relation to soil properties of paddy fields. J Hazard Material 181: 778–787 doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2010.05.081 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Huang X, Wang H, Zhou J, Ma C, Du C, et al. (2009) Risk assessment of potentially toxic element pollution in soils and rice (Oryza sativa) in a typical area of the Yangtze River Delta. Environ Pollut 157: 2542–2549 doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2009.03.002 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types