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Radiological health risk due to consumption of cassava from nigerian government farms


C.P. Ononugbo
O. Azikiwe

Abstract

Assessment of radionuclide contamination of food crops is of great importance for the protection of human health. The activity concentration of radionuclides in cassava food crop which is a dietary importance to the population that relies on the fertilized agricultural farm has been determined using gamma ray spectroscopy. The mean activity concentration of 226Ra ranges from Bdl to 60.13 ±6.83 Bqkg-1, 232Th ranges from 576.13±2.85 to 955.46 ±2.33 Bqkg-1 and 40K ranges from 403.91 ±18.00 to 795.53±9.96 Bqkg-1. These values are above the average values of 8 (1-9) Bqkg-1 for 226Ra, 3 (2-10) Bqkg-1 for 232Th and 50 (25-75) Bqkg-1 for 40K respectively. The study also revealed that the total effective dose for adult citizens from consumption of cassava is 1.93 Svy-1 which exceeds the annual limit of 1 mSv for the public. The cancer risk and hereditary cancer effect due to consumption of cassava from fertilized farms estimated shows that 1 out of 10,000000 population will probably develop cancer while 48 out of 10,000000 population might have the hereditary cancer effect. The lifetime cancer risk estimated value shows that only 0.27 out of 10,000000 population will develop lifetime cancer and hereditary effect. This is a potential health risk to the inhabitants and domestic animals which depend on cassava from fertilized farms for food in the area. The study therefore underlines the need for more research on the transfer ratio of the radionuclide and their reduction coefficient to gain more insight into the radiological risks.


Keywords: Radioactivity, Cassava, health risk, hereditary effect, Cancer risk, Effective dose.


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eISSN: 1118-1931
print ISSN: 1118-1931