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Trace elements in Anadara spp. (Mollusca: Bivalva) collected along the coast of Vietnam, with emphasis on regional differences and human health risk assessment

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Abstract

This study measured concentrations of 21 trace elements in whole soft tissue of the blood cockle Anadara spp., which is a common food for local people, collected along the coast of Vietnam. Results showed that concentrations of As, Sr, Mo, Sn, and Pb in cockles collected from Khanh Hoa Province in the Central Coastal Zone (CCZ) had higher values than those from the other regions, while cockles collected from the Mekong River Delta (MRD) showed the highest concentrations of Hg. Regional differences in trace element concentrations of the cockle may be due to differences in human activities, i.e., shipyards in the CCZ and agriculture in the MRD. Trace element concentrations measured in the soft tissues of blood cockles investigated here were within safe levels for human consumption following criteria by the European Commission (EC) and the United States Food and Drug Agency, but several specimens had Cd levels exceeding the EC guidelines of 1 μg/g wet weight. The estimated target hazard quotients for trace elements via consuming bivalves were <1, indicating that the cumulative noncarcinogenic risk was completely insignificant. However, the estimated target cancer risk values by assumed inorganic As concentrations seem to implicate consumption of these cockles as posing potential human health concerns.

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Acknowledgments

We express our sincere thanks to Dr. Todd Miller, Center for Marine Environmental Studies (CMES), Ehime University, for critical review of the manuscript. This study was partially supported by a grant from the Research Revolution 2002 (RR2002) of the Project for Sustainable Coexistence of Humans, Nature, and the Earth (FY2002) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) of Japan, and Global COE Program from MEXT. The Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research for Postdoctoral Fellows by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (No. 2109237 to NPCT, and No. 207871 to TA) are also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Environment Conservation, Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, Tarumi 3-5-7, Matsuyama, Ehime, 790-8566, Japan

    Nguyen Phuc Cam Tu, Tokutaka Ikemoto & Ichiro Takeuchi

  2. Center for Marine Environmental Studies (CMES), Ehime University, Bunkyo-cho 2-5, Matsuyama, Ehime, 790-8577, Japan

    Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Tetsuro Agusa & Shinsuke Tanabe

  3. Department of Legal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Shimane University, Enya 89-1, Izumo, Shimane, 693-8501, Japan

    Tetsuro Agusa

  4. Research Institute for Biotechnology and Environment (RIBE), Nong Lam University, Thu Duc District, Hochiminh City, Vietnam

    Bui Cach Tuyen

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  1. Nguyen Phuc Cam Tu
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  2. Nguyen Ngoc Ha
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  3. Tetsuro Agusa
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Correspondence to Ichiro Takeuchi.

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Tu, N.P.C., Ha, N.N., Agusa, T. et al. Trace elements in Anadara spp. (Mollusca: Bivalva) collected along the coast of Vietnam, with emphasis on regional differences and human health risk assessment. Fish Sci 77, 1033–1043 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-011-0410-3

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