从土壤污染到“镉大米”,进而对公众健康的影响--驱动因素和解决方案的跨学科分析(英文)

From Soil Pollution to “Cadmium Rice” to Public Health Impacts: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Influencing Factors and Possible Responses

本文论述了在中国大米镉污染的原因,并指出了问题的严重性。认为仅仅从土壤中镉的含量简单推断其健康危害具有误导性,因为农作物对于镉的吸收以及对于健康的危害受多种因素的影响。不仅包括镉的背景水平以及采矿和工业活动造成的污染,而且与土壤性质、气候条件以及农作物的种类密切相关。社会和文化因素,以及饮食习惯、其它污染源、营养状况和健康情况也会影响镉的摄入量,并关系到健康影响的严重程度。基于这些原因,我们认为跨学科的分析对于更好地了解镉污染对健康的音响模式以及制定有效的干预措施至关重要。

This article discusses the causes of the contamination of rice with cadmium in China and considers what we know about the severity of the problem. It argues that it is misleading to extrapolate simply from levels of cadmium in soil to health risks, because the uptake of cadmium by crops and the health impacts of the metal are affected by multiple factors. These include not only background levels of cadmium and pollution from mining and industry, but also soil quality, climatic conditions and the type and variety of crops grown. Social and cultural factors, including dietary habits, other exposure sources, nutritional quality and general health status will also affect the intake of cadmium and the severity of health impacts. For these reasons we argue that interdisciplinary analysis is crucial to a better understanding of patterns of risk to health from cadmium pollution, and to the design of effective responsive measures.