Risk assessment of dietary exposure to aluminium in the Chinese population.

In order to address the issue of excessive intake of aluminium (Al) from Al-containing food additives in the Chinese diet, this study conducted a dietary exposure assessment of Al in the general population based on the national surveillance data of Al content in foods and national food consumption data. It was found that the mean dietary exposure of the whole Chinese population to Al from Al-containing food additives was 1.795 mg kg‒1 bw week‒1, not exceeding the PTWI, while high dietary exposures (e.g., 97.5th percentile) to Al were 7.660 and 2.103-2.903 mg kg‒1 bw week‒1 for children, respectively, both exceeding the PTWI. It was found that the dietary exposure to Al for 32.5% of the total Chinese population and 42.6% of children aged 4-6 years exceeded the PTWI. Wheat flour and wheat-based products are the main source of dietary A l exposure (85% of the total intake); and puffed foods are the major source of Al intake for children. These findings suggested that consumption of Al-containing food additives could be a health concern for consumers with high food consumption (97.5th percentile) and children under the age of 14 years.

Endocrine disruption of cadmium in rats using the OECD enhanced TG 407 test system.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the endocrine disrupting effects of cadmium (Cd) using OECD enhanced TG407 test guideline. METHODS: Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into six groups and accordingly administered with 0, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, 20 mg/kg•BW/day of Cd by gavage for 28 days. Body weight, food consumption, hematology, biochemistry, sex hormone levels, urinary ß2-microglobulin, organ weights and histopathology and estrous cycle were detected. RESULTS: Cd could significantly decrease animals' body weight (P<0.05). Serum luteinizing hormone (LH) at 10-20 mg/kg•BW groups and testosterone (T) at 2.5 and 10 mg/kg•BW groups decreased significantly (P<0.05). However, no statistically significant change was found in urinary ß2-microglobulin among Cd-treatment groups (P>0.05). Endpoints related to female reproduction including uterus weight and histopathological change at 10-20 mg/kg•BW groups showed significant increase (P<0.05). While among male rats in 2.5, 10, 20 mg/kg•BW groups, weight of prostate, thyroids, and seminal vesicle glands significantly decreased (P<0.05). Moreover, no histopathological change was observed in kidney. CONCLUSION: Results suggested that Cd can cause endocrine disrupting effects in SD rats. Comparing with possible renal toxicity of Cd, its toxicity on endocrine system was more sensitive.

[Applicability of thresholds of toxicological concern in the chronic dietary risk assessment of transformation products of pesticide active substance].

OBJECTIVE: To establish the threshold of toxicological concern(TTC) approach and to apply it in the risk assessment of metabolites, degradation and reaction products of pirimicarb. METHODS: TTC decision tree approach based on Cramer classification was established and Lazar software was used to predict the genotoxicity of the seven transformation products of pirimicarb, namely, R34836, R34885, R35140, R31805, R34865, R16210 and R16192. Dietary exposure in general population as well as in six age population groups was estimated by using data from the Chinese National Nutrition and Health Survey and pirimicarb residue data from national chemical surveillance data in 2011. TTC decision tree approach was used for risk assessment and the exposure was compared with the corresponding TTC values. RESULTS: Of the seven transformations of pirimicarb active substance, namely, R34836, R34885, R35140, R31805, R34865, R16210 and R16192, the maximum dietary exposure of mean and large portion(P 97.5) were all belong to 2-6 age group. The mean exposures of the seven transformation products for 2-6 age group,were 0.0290, 0.0207, 0.0015, 0.0320, 0.0005, 0.6918 and 0.1274 µg/kg,respectively, and the corresponding P 97.5 exposures were 0.0817,0.0581,0.0042,0.0900,0.0014, 1.9459 and 0.3585 µg/kg. Besides, the mean and P 97.5 exposure of R16210 for 2-6 age group was the largest,which were 0.6918 and 1.9459 µg/kg, accounting for 46.12% and 129.73% of the TTC threshold,respectively. CONCLUSION: TTC decision tree approach is a useful tool for prior screening and primary risk assessment of the transformation products of pesticide active substance.