Abstract
Cadmium is ubiquitous in the environment and in food and accumulates in the body, affecting kidney, lung, and bone. The aggregate exposure to cadmium was probabilistically estimated through two major routes: ingestion of food and water and inhalation of ambient air/tobacco smoke, followed by health risk assessment, with focus on the cardinal systemic effect of cadmium, nephrotoxicity. The magnitude of the aggregate intake was estimated with the Monte Carlo method, using actual occurrence and consumption data. As absorption rates of the individual exposure routes determine the internal exposure, alternative exposure scenarios considered different relationships between the absorption capacities for the individual exposure routes, according to published experimental and modelling data. Emphasis was placed on the exposure of women, a vulnerable population. Intake and internal exposure levels were compared with health-based guidance values and with a cut-off level for renal effects, respectively. Proportions of individuals with intakes exceeding these values, as well as contributions of the individual exposure routes to the aggregate exposure were calculated. The contribution of inhalation to the aggregate intake of non-smokers is negligible, whilst it is prominent for smokers. Risks are high for smokers, especially those consuming non-filtered cigarettes, and are maximized for women. Internal exposures of smokers exceed the cut-off value for irreversible renal effects up to 2.2-fold. The percentage of smokers with exposures exceeding the health-based guidance values is alarming, reaching 77% for women. Occurrence data gaps, simulation of the smoking pattern, and lack of information about passive smoking exposures are main sources of uncertainty.
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Abbreviations
- AGES:
-
Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety
- ATSDR:
-
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
- B2M:
-
Beta-2-microglobulin
- b.w.:
-
Body weight
- EFSA:
-
European Food Safety Authority
- FAO:
-
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- GF-AAS:
-
Atomic Absorption-Graphite Furnace technique
- IARC:
-
International Agency for Research on Cancer
- ICP-MS:
-
Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry
- JECFA:
-
Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives
- JRC:
-
Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
- LOQ:
-
Limit of Quantification
- MCRA:
-
Monte Carlo Risk Assessment
- P95:
-
95th percentile
- PM:
-
Particulate Matter
- PM10/ PM2.5 :
-
Particulate Matter with a diameter of 10/2.5 μm or less
- PTWI:
-
Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake
- RIVM:
-
The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment
- TWI:
-
Tolerable Weekly Intake
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), as this work was part of the risk assessment on cadmium, implemented by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) within EFSA’s EU-FORA (EU Food Risk Assessment) Fellowship Programme. The first author was hosted as a fellow of the 2018–2019 cohort at the Department of Risk Assessment of the Data, Statistics and Risk Assessment Division of AGES in Vienna. Food and drinking water samples were collected by the Austrian Food Control Authority with the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection. Consumption data were collected by the University of Vienna with the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection and EFSA. Tobacco products samples were collected within the framework of the Official Control and Inspections in Austria. Chemical analyses were conducted in the laboratories of the AGES Institute for Food Safety in Vienna.
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Conceptualization: [Christina Vlachou, Katharina Vejdovszky]; Methodology: [Christina Vlachou]; Formal analysis and investigation: [Christina Vlachou]; Writing—original draft preparation: [Christina Vlachou]; Writing—review and editing: [Katharina Vejdovszky, Antonia Griesbacher, Johann Steinwider, Daniela Hofstädter, Klemens Fuchs]; Resources: [Klemens Fuchs]; Supervision: [Daniela Hofstädter, Klemens Fuchs].
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Vlachou, C., Vejdovszky, K., Griesbacher, A. et al. Probabilistic Estimation of the Aggregate Dietary and Inhalation Exposure of Austrian Adults to Cadmium and Health Risk Assessment. Expo Health 14, 843–856 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-021-00459-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-021-00459-9