Assessment of Radiation and Heavy Metals Risk due to the Dietary Intake of Marine Fishes (Rastrelliger kanagurta) from the Straits of Malacca

M U Khandaker; Kh Asaduzzaman; S M Nawi; A R Usman; Y M Amin; E Daar; D A Bradley; H Ahmed; A A Okhunov

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0128790

Assessment of Radiation and Heavy Metals Risk due to the Dietary Intake of Marine Fishes (Rastrelliger kanagurta) from the Straits of Malacca

PLoS One. 2015 Jun 15;10(6):e0128790. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128790. eCollection 2015.

Authors

M U Khandaker¹, Kh Asaduzzaman¹, S M Nawi¹, A R Usman¹, Y M Amin¹, E Daar², D A Bradley³, H Ahmed⁴, A A Okhunov⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia.
² Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom; Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan.
³ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia; Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom.
⁴ Physics Dept., Faculty of Science, Jazan University, Gizan, 22822, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Science in Engineering, International Islamic University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50728, Malaysia.

Abstract

The environment of the Straits of Malacca receives pollution as a result of various industrial and anthropogenic sources, making systematic studies crucial in determining the prevailing water quality. Present study concerns concentrations of natural radionuclides and heavy metals in marine fish (Rastrelliger kanagurta) collected from the Straits of Malacca, since aquatic stock form an important source of the daily diet of the surrounding populace. Assessment was made of the concentrations of key indicator radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th, 40K) and heavy metals (As, Mn, Fe, Cr, Ni, Zn, Cu, Co, Sr, Al, Hg and Pb) together with various radiation indices linked to the consumption of seafish. The annual effective dose for all detected radionuclides for all study locations has been found to be within UNSCEAR acceptable limits as has the associated life-time cancer risk. The overall contamination of the sampled fish from heavy metals was also found to be within limits of tolerance.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Environmental Monitoring
Fishes*
Food Contamination*
Geography
Humans
Malaysia
Metals, Heavy* / adverse effects
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Radiation*
Radioisotopes / chemistry
Risk

Substances

Metals, Heavy
Radioisotopes

Grants and funding

This work was supported by University of Malaya Research Grant: RP006D-13AFR and UM.C/HIR/MOHE/SC/33; fund receiver: MUK. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.