Heavy metals concentration in native edible fish at upper Meghna River and its associated tributaries in Bangladesh: a prospective human health concern

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the concentration (mg kg−1) of selected heavy metals including chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) along with possible human health risk from 9 popular freshwater native edible fishes (Anabas testudineus, Channa punctatus, Gagata youssoufi, Heteropneustes fossilis, Mastacembelus armatus, Mystus tengara, Ompok pabda, Puntius ticto and Xenentodon cancila) in ranges at upper Meghna River and its associated tributaries, Bangladesh, during November 2018. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) was used to measure the average concentration of selected metals that followed the trends of Zn (1.42) > Cr (1.31) > Cu (0.92) > Pb (0.54) > Cd (0.51) > As (0.47) mg kg−1. Although the mean total content of As (0.47 mg kg−1) was least quantities, G. youssoufi (0.87 mg kg−1) accumulated the maximum concentration. The results revealed that all the heavy metals were lower than the permissible limits stated by national (e.g., MOFL) and international (e.g., FAO, WHO, EU, USEPA) agencies except for Cr and Pb. Furthermore, the assessed heavy metals concentration at the selected areas was comparatively lower than its nearby urban and estuarine areas of the river. Estimated daily intake, target hazard quotient (THQ) and carcinogenic risk (CR) were analyzed to interpret the effect of health risk. The THQ values were < 1 which denoted no health risk to neither children nor adult. In addition, the CR value was ≤ 10−4 for children, whereas the amount was always below 10−4 for adult that denoted no major deleterious effects to the consumers. However, the prolonged exposure to heavy metals might cause risk to both ages especially to the younger individuals.