Burger Joanna, Gochfeld Michael
Division of Life Sciences, 604 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8082, USA.
Environ Res. 2005 Nov;99(3):403-12. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2005.02.001.
Levels of contaminants in fish are of particular interest because of the potential risk to humans who consume them. While attention has focused on self-caught fish, most of the fish eaten by the American public comes from commercial sources. We sampled 11 types of fish and shellfish obtained from supermarkets and specialty fish markets in New Jersey and analyzed them for arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury, and selenium. We test the null hypothesis that metal levels do not vary among fish types, and we consider whether the levels of any metals could harm the fish themselves or their predators or pose a health risk for human consumers. There were significant interspecific differences for all metals, and no fish types had the highest levels of more than two metals. There were few significant correlations (Kendall tau) among metals for the three most numerous fish (yellowfin tuna, bluefish, and flounder), the correlations were generally low (below 0.40), and many correlations were negative. Only manganese and lead positively were correlated for tuna, bluefish, and flounder. The levels of most metals were below those known to cause adverse effects in the fish themselves. However, the levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, and selenium in some fish were in the range known to cause some sublethal effects in sensitive predatory birds and mammals and in some fish exceeded health-based standards. The greatest risk from different metals resided in different fish; the species of fish with the highest levels of a given metal sometimes exceeded the human health guidance or standards for that metal. Thus, the risk information given to the public (mainly about mercury) does not present a complete picture. The potential of harm from other metals suggests that people not only should eat smaller quantities of fish known to accumulate mercury but also should eat a diversity of fish to avoid consuming unhealthy quantities of other heavy metals. However, consumers should bear in mind that standards have a margin of safety.
鱼类中的污染物水平备受关注，因为食用鱼类的人类可能面临潜在风险。尽管注意力主要集中在自己捕获的鱼类上，但美国公众食用的大部分鱼类都来自商业渠道。我们对从新泽西州的超市和特色鱼市获取的11种鱼类和贝类进行了采样，并分析了其中的砷、镉、铬、铅、锰、汞和硒含量。我们检验了鱼类种类之间金属含量无差异的零假设，并考虑了任何金属的含量是否会对鱼类自身或其捕食者造成伤害，或者对人类消费者构成健康风险。所有金属在种间均存在显著差异，没有任何一种鱼类含有两种以上含量最高的金属。在数量最多的三种鱼类（黄鳍金枪鱼、蓝鱼和比目鱼）中，金属之间几乎没有显著相关性（肯德尔秩相关系数），相关性普遍较低（低于0.40），且许多相关性为负。只有锰和铅在金枪鱼、蓝鱼和比目鱼中呈正相关。大多数金属的含量低于已知会对鱼类自身产生不良影响的水平。然而，某些鱼类中的砷、铅、汞和硒含量处于已知会对敏感的捕食性鸟类和哺乳动物产生一些亚致死效应的范围内，并且某些鱼类中的这些含量超过了基于健康的标准。不同金属带来的最大风险存在于不同的鱼类中；某种特定金属含量最高的鱼类品种有时会超过该金属的人类健康指导值或标准。因此，向公众提供的风险信息（主要关于汞）并不全面。其他金属造成危害的可能性表明，人们不仅应该减少食用已知会积累汞的鱼类的量，还应该食用多种鱼类，以避免摄入不健康量的其他重金属。然而，消费者应该记住，标准有安全边际。
