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Mixture risk assessment due to ingestion of arsenic, copper, and zinc from milkfish farmed in contaminated coastal areas

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Abstract

Human health risks associated with the consumption of metal-contaminated fish over extended periods have become a concern particularly in Taiwan, where fish is consumed on a large scale. This study applied the interaction-based hazard index (HI) to assess the mixture health risks for fishers and non-fishers who consume the arsenic (As), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) contaminated milkfish from As-contaminated coastal areas in Taiwan, taking into account joint toxic actions and potential toxic interactions. We showed that the interactions of As–Zn and Cu–Zn were antagonistic, whereas As–Cu interaction was additive. We found that HI estimates without interactions considered were 1.3–1.6 times higher than interactive HIs. Probability distributions of HI estimates for non-fishers were less than 1, whereas all 97.5%-tile HI estimates for fishers were >1. Analytical results revealed that the level of inorganic As in milkfish was the main contributor to HIs, indicating a health risk posed to consumers of fish farmed in As-contaminated areas. However, we found that Zn supplementation could significantly decrease As-induced risk of hematological effect by activating a Zn-dependent enzyme. In order to improve the accuracy of health risk due to exposure to multiple metals, further toxicological data, regular environmental monitoring, dietary survey, and refinement approaches for interactive risk assessment are warranted.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of China under Grant MOST 103-2221-E-039-003.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan

    Yi-Jun Lin & Chung-Min Liao

  2. Department of Food Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung City, 20224, Taiwan

    Min-Pei Ling

  3. Department of Public Health, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, 40242, Taiwan

    Szu-Chieh Chen

  4. Department of Biomedical Science and Environmental Biology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 80708, Taiwan

    Wei-Yu Chen

  5. Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77845, USA

    Nan-Hung Hsieh

  6. Institute of Computational Comparative Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    Yi-Hsien Cheng

  7. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli County, 35053, Taiwan

    Shu-Han You & Wei-Chun Chou

  8. Center for General Education, Nanhua University, Chiayi County, 62249, Taiwan

    Ming-Chao Lin

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  1. Yi-Jun Lin
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Correspondence to Min-Pei Ling or Chung-Min Liao.

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Lin, YJ., Ling, MP., Chen, SC. et al. Mixture risk assessment due to ingestion of arsenic, copper, and zinc from milkfish farmed in contaminated coastal areas. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 14616–14626 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8982-9

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