Journal of Fisheries & Livestock Production
Open Access

Research Article

Assessing Carcinogenic and other Health Risks Associated with Consuming a Food Fish, Labeo pseudocoubie, from the Niger-Benue/Imo River Systems, Nigeria

¹Researcher at African Centre of Excellence, Institute of Petroleum Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

²Researcher at Centre for Marine Pollution Monitoring and Seafood Safety, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

³Researcher at Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

⁴Researcher at Ministry of Environment, Rivers State Secretariat, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

⁵Researcher at Federal Medical Centre, Yenegoa, Bayelsa, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author:

Uche AO
Researcher at African Centre of Excellence
Institute of Petroleum Studies
University of Port Harcourt
Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Tel: +234 84 817 941
E-mail: ucheo.arinze@yahoo.com

Received Date: January 09, 2017; Accepted Date: January 19, 2017; Published Date: February 25, 2017

Citation: Uche AO, Sikoki FD, Babatunde BB, Konya RS, Ifeh MO (2017) Assessing Carcinogenic and other Health Risks Associated with Consuming a Food Fish, Labeo pseudocoubie, from the Niger-Benue/Imo River Systems, Nigeria. J Fisheries Livest Prod 5: 216 doi: 10.4172/2332-2608.1000216

Copyright: © 2017 Uche AO, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Carcinogenic and other health risks associated with consuming a food fish, Labeo pseudocoubie from the Niger- Benue/Imo River systems was assessed using bioaccumulation of poisonous metals and health indices. Three hundred fish samples of Labeo pseudocoubie were collected from five stations along the Niger-Benue/Imo River Systems of Nigeria to investigate the bioaccumulation of metal, non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic human health risks. The metal concentrations (As, Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn, Hg, Ba, Fe, V, Cu and Cr) were analyzed using the X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectrometer. The non-carcinogenic (estimated daily intake, chronic daily intake and target hazard quotient) and carcinogenic human health risks were calculated for metal concentrations in the fish. The data revealed that the mean bioaccumulation for five (5) metals in L. pseudocoubie from most stations were higher than the permissible limits. The non-carcinogenic human health risk revealed that majority of the metals had values above the daily reference dose for both males and females; while the target hazard quotient revealed that very few metals (3) had concentrations above the level at which obvious health impact may be observed. Furthermore, the carcinogenic human health assessment revealed that nickel and arsenic in all stations, except for arsenic in Station 3, were above the range for relatively negligible cancer risk for both males and females. It is therefore recommended that fish consumers along the Niger- Benue/Imo River Systems should exercise serious caution when consuming fish in these areas due to the possible adverse effects that could ensue.

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