TY - JOUR
T1 - Shark fin, a symbol of wealth and good fortune may pose health risks
T2 - the case of mercury
AU - Man, Yu Bon
AU - Wu, Sheng Chun
AU - Wong, Ming Hung
N1 - Funding information:
The authors would like to thank WildAid and the Seed Collaborative Research Fund from the State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution (SCRF0003) for financial support.
Publisher copyright:
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
PY - 2014/12
Y1 - 2014/12
N2 - There is a lack of information concerning human health risks due to exposure to mercury contained in shark fins, through dietary intake. Health risk assessment of shark fins, collected from 5 cities in China: Hong Kong (HK), Beijing, Shanghai (SH), Haikou (HN) and Wenzhou (WZ), was conducted, based on total mercury and methylmercury, and analyzed by a cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry equipped with high-performance liquid chromatography, respectively. The results showed that 16.8 % samples from HK, 8.3 % from SH, 33.3 % from HN, and 16.8 % from WZ were regarded as unsafe for human consumption. Extremely high consumption rates of shark fins for an adult and a child (0.150 and 0.0807 kg/day, respectively), at 95th centile, samples from WZ demonstrated high non-cancer risks (adverse health effects) (Hazard Quotient = 16.0) on adults (aged 25–65), and samples from SH, HN and WZ also showed high non-cancer risks (Hazard Quotient = 12.9, 21.0, and 34.4, respectively) on children (aged 1–7). Consumption of shark fins may be detrimental to human health.
AB - There is a lack of information concerning human health risks due to exposure to mercury contained in shark fins, through dietary intake. Health risk assessment of shark fins, collected from 5 cities in China: Hong Kong (HK), Beijing, Shanghai (SH), Haikou (HN) and Wenzhou (WZ), was conducted, based on total mercury and methylmercury, and analyzed by a cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry equipped with high-performance liquid chromatography, respectively. The results showed that 16.8 % samples from HK, 8.3 % from SH, 33.3 % from HN, and 16.8 % from WZ were regarded as unsafe for human consumption. Extremely high consumption rates of shark fins for an adult and a child (0.150 and 0.0807 kg/day, respectively), at 95th centile, samples from WZ demonstrated high non-cancer risks (adverse health effects) (Hazard Quotient = 16.0) on adults (aged 25–65), and samples from SH, HN and WZ also showed high non-cancer risks (Hazard Quotient = 12.9, 21.0, and 34.4, respectively) on children (aged 1–7). Consumption of shark fins may be detrimental to human health.
KW - Mercury
KW - Methylmercury
KW - Shark fins
KW - Non-cancer risk
KW - Health risk assessment
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84894286304&origin=inward
U2 - 10.1007/s10653-014-9598-3
DO - 10.1007/s10653-014-9598-3
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0269-4042
VL - 36
SP - 1015
EP - 1027
JO - Environmental Geochemistry and Health
JF - Environmental Geochemistry and Health
ER -
