Critical Review: Toxicity of Dietborne Metals to Aquatic Organisms

Abstract

This paper reviews dietborne toxicity of 13 metals (Ag, Al, As, B, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, V, Zn) to aquatic biota. Of those, Ag, As, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn have caused dietborne toxicity in laboratory exposures when the dietborne concentrations resulted from exposure of the food to waterborne concentrations near toxicity thresholds. To facilitate merging this laboratory-based effects information with realistic exposure scenarios, concentrations of metals in water and food items should be surveyed in a variety of real-world freshwater and saltwater systems to determine dietborne:waterborne metal ratios and the chemical forms in which the metals occur.

KEY WORDS:

• dietborne exposure
• metals
• toxicity