Methodology for the assessment of human health risks associated with the consumption of chemical contaminated freshwater fish in South Africa

Abstract

Studies have shown that the aquatic environment can be polluted by contaminates that are accumulated by freshwater fish and this may pose a health risk to the consumers of the contaminated fish. Developed counties like the United States of America have developed strategies and associated guidance documentation to conduct chemical contaminant surveys using fish and to use these data to reduce the heath risk to the consumers of the fish. In this paper a generic methodology is presented that will give guidance in the undertaking of fish contaminant surveys to provide information regarding the possible health risk if the fish are consumed by recreational and subsistence fishermen in South Africa. The fundamentals of the methodology are based on catchment information, socio-demographic information of consumers of fish in the catchment, bioaccumulation potential and health risks of analytes, sound sampling design, risk assessment procedures and performing monitoring at different scales and depths.

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