Screening level assessment of risks associated with dietary exposure to selected heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and radionuclides in Kuwait

To assess the health risks associated with dietary exposure of the Kuwait population, two market baskets comprising 146 food items, which represented the diets of various age groups of the Kuwaiti population, were collected twice, once in the winter of 1997 and again in the summer of 1998, to account for seasonal variation. These food items were analyzed for their heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and selected radionuclides contents. Probabilistic risk assessments using the Monte Carlo simulation technique were conducted for Cd, Ph, PAHs, Cs-137, Sr-90, and Ra-226. The data obtained showed that high Cd and Pb exposures, which exceeded the World Health Organization's (WHO's) standards are encountered among young children. Exposures to PAHs of the different age groups of the Kuwaiti population were not unusually high at the higher percentiles. On the other hand, dietary exposures to Sr-90 were all below WHO standards for all percentile and age groups. Exposures to Cs-117 were slightly above the WHO standard at the 90(th) percentile for most age groups, and Ra-226 exposures were all well above WHO standards at the tipper percentiles for all age groups, but still below the United States Food and Drug Administration's (USFDA's) intervention levels.