Risk analysis due to ingestion of tracajá with arsenic in a Kayapó indigenous village

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the presence of As in the tracajá tissue consumed by indigenous people and added to the environment by the gold mining activity. The study area was the Kayapó indigenous region, on the Baú river, in the municipality of Altamira-PA, Brazilian Amazon. HNO3 and microwave were used for sample digestion. As was quantified by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry with Hydride Generation. For the risk assessment, the ingestion of muscle tissue was used, and then methodologies were used to calculate the hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI). The HQ values for children were slightly lower compared to adults, but in prolonged consumption of the species, children are more likely to have As intoxication. The hazard index (HI) presented valuesbelow 1 in the samples, which indicates that the consumption of tracajá would not cause harmful health effects in an individual by the simultaneous exposure to As. The results of this study showed that the concentrations of As found in the tracajás presented rates below the maximum concentration allowed (1 μg g-1 of As) by ANVISA. As much as the HQ and HI values for As are below the established reference, care must be taken when consuming foods with As, as it is a food that is widely consumed by the indigenous people, and its weekly consumption rate may take in the future to some risks to the health of indigenous people, especially children.