Ab Razak Nurul Hafiza, Praveena Sarva Mangala, Aris Ahmad Zaharin, Hashim Zailina
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
J Epidemiol Glob Health. 2015 Dec;5(4):297-310. doi: 10.1016/j.jegh.2015.04.003. Epub 2015 May 2.
Malaysia has abundant sources of drinking water from river and groundwater. However, rapid developments have deteriorated quality of drinking water sources in Malaysia. Heavy metal studies in terms of drinking water, applications of health risk assessment and bio-monitoring in Malaysia were reviewed from 2003 to 2013. Studies on heavy metal in drinking water showed the levels are under the permissible limits as suggested by World Health Organization and Malaysian Ministry of Health. Future studies on the applications of health risk assessment are crucial in order to understand the risk of heavy metal exposure through drinking water to Malaysian population. Among the biomarkers that have been reviewed, toenail is the most useful tool to evaluate body burden of heavy metal. Toenails are easy to collect, store, transport and analysed. This review will give a clear guidance for future studies of Malaysian drinking water. In this way, it will help risk managers to minimize the exposure at optimum level as well as the government to formulate policies in safe guarding the population.
马来西亚有丰富的来自河流和地下水的饮用水源。然而，快速发展已使马来西亚饮用水源的质量恶化。对2003年至2013年期间马来西亚饮用水方面的重金属研究、健康风险评估的应用以及生物监测进行了综述。饮用水中的重金属研究表明，其含量处于世界卫生组织和马来西亚卫生部建议的允许限值以下。未来关于健康风险评估应用的研究对于了解通过饮用水接触重金属对马来西亚人群的风险至关重要。在所综述的生物标志物中，脚趾甲是评估重金属身体负担最有用的工具。脚趾甲易于采集、储存、运输和分析。本综述将为马来西亚饮用水的未来研究提供明确指导。通过这种方式，它将帮助风险管理者将暴露降至最佳水平，同时帮助政府制定保护民众的政策。
