Health Risk Assessment and Source Apportionment of Mercury, Lead, Cadmium, Selenium, and Manganese in Japanese Women: An Adjunct Study to the Japan Environment and Children’s Study

Chaochen Ma, Miyuki Iwai-Shimada, Nozomi Tatsuta, Kunihiko Nakai, Tomohiko Isobe, Mai Takagi, Yukiko Nishihama and Shoji F. Nakayama
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Chaochen Ma: Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
Miyuki Iwai-Shimada: Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
Nozomi Tatsuta: Department of Development and Environmental Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan
Kunihiko Nakai: Department of Development and Environmental Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan
Tomohiko Isobe: Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
Mai Takagi: Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
Yukiko Nishihama: Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
Shoji F. Nakayama: Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-13

Abstract: Toxic element pollution is a serious global health concern that has been attracting considerable research. In this study, we elucidated the major routes of exposure to three toxic elements (mercury, cadmium, and lead) and two essential elements (manganese and selenium) through diet, soil, house dust, and indoor air and assessed the potential health risks from these elements on women from the coastal area of Miyagi prefecture, Japan. Twenty-four-hour duplicate diet, house dust, soil, and indoor air samples were collected from 37 participants. Cd, Pb, Mn, and Se concentrations were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and Hg concentrations using cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry. We found that soil and house dust were the primary reservoirs of these elements. Diet contributed most strongly to the daily intake of these elements, with mean values of 0.72, 0.25, 0.054, 47, and 0.94 μg/kg/day for Hg, Cd, Pb, Mn, and Se, respectively. The mean hazard quotient of Hg was 1.53, indicating a high potential health risk from Hg exposure in daily lives. The intakes of other elements were below the tolerable limits. Future studies with a larger sample size are warranted to confirm our findings.

Keywords: mercury; cadmium; lead; manganese; selenium; exposure assessment; health risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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