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Estimation of Risk Assessment of Some Heavy Metals Intake Through Black Scabbardfish ( Aphanopus carbo ) Consumption in Portugal
Author(s) -
Cardoso Carlos,
Farias Inês,
Costa Valentina,
Nunes Maria,
Gordo Leonel
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
risk analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1539-6924
pISSN - 0272-4332
DOI - 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2010.01374.x
Subject(s) - consumption (sociology) , portuguese , estimator , heavy metals , environmental science , population , estimation , statistics , risk assessment , toxicology , mathematics , environmental health , environmental chemistry , chemistry , engineering , biology , medicine , economics , social science , linguistics , philosophy , systems engineering , sociology , management
The intake of Cd, methyl‐Hg, and Pb through consumption of black scabbardfish (BSF) ( Aphanopus carbo ) in Portugal as well as the associated probability of exceeding the respective provisional tolerable weekly intakes (PTWIs) was estimated. For this purpose, the contamination levels of heavy metals in this fish species were combined with constructed consumption scenarios or with a hypothesized consumption distribution. Whereas Cd and Pb posed no serious risk, the consumption of at least one portion of BSF per month as well as the hypothetical study in the Portuguese population produced nonnegligible probabilities of surpassing the PTWI for Me‐Hg. Risk assessment for Portuguese consumers revealed a higher risk regarding Me‐Hg, 1.19% and 1.81% with the plug‐in (PI) and the tail estimation (TE) estimators, respectively. On the other hand, the risk for Cd and Pb was less than 1 in 100,000. TE was more realistic and accurate for Cd and Pb. Concerning Me‐Hg, TE and PI estimators produced similar results. Furthermore, the limitations of a deterministic approach were shown.