A Survey on Some Heavy Metal Contents of Water and Rice in the Jeon-buk Area of Korea

  • Kim, Jong-Gyu (Department of Public Health, Keimyung University) ;
  • Lee, In-Kyu (Department of Dental Laboratory Technology, Wonkwang Health Science College)
  • Published : 2006.12.30

Abstract

This study was performed to investigate the levels of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) in water and rice samples taken from five sites on a stream used for agricultural water in the Jeon-buk area, Korea. The water samples were randomly collected by the recommendations of the World Health Organization, and rice samples were randomly collected from rice paddy. The water and rice samples were analyzed by the recommendations of Food Code of Korea and using inductively coupled plasma spectrometer. Although there was variation between sampling sites, the levels of the metals in rice were on average much higher than those in water. The ratios of metal levels of rice to water were: $8.0{\sim}35.4\;for\;Cd;\;2.2{\sim}7.2\;for\;Cu;\;5.9{\sim}18.3\;for\;Pb;\;and\;10.6{\sim}75.7$ for Zn. These results suggest that there were transfer and bioaccumulation of the metals from the water to the rice taken place.

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References

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