International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Arsenic is a chemical element present in the environmental from both natural and human source. The accumulation of the excessive amounts of arsenic in rice can cause health problems in consumer as rice is a staple food mainly consumed in Thailand. The purpose of this study was to investigate the concentrations of arsenic in local rice grains and to assess the exposure to arsenic through local rice consumption. Rice samples were randomly collected from three sub districts of Ron Phibun district based on the rice cultivation areas. The concentrations of arsenic contaminated in rice sample cultivated in Ron Phibun district, southern Thailand, the abandoned tin mining site, were investigated using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) coupled with microwave-assisted technique under high pressure and temperature conditions. The estimated daily intake, common index for metal transfer from plant to human, was used to assess the health risk from arsenic through local rice consumption. It is found that the arsenic concentrations were in the range of 0.291-1.361 mg/kg which were lower than Thai FDA recommendation. The estimated daily intake (EDI) of arsenic by the local people ranged from 1.522 to 7.120 g/day kg body weight. Although the estimated daily intake values of arsenic through rice consumption were lower than the standard, the potential health risk from exposure to arsenic need more attention.

Index Terms—Arsenic, estimated daily intake, heavy metal, rice.

Pornpun Phimol is with Faculty of Environmental Management, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand (e-mail: p.phimol@gmail.com).
Parichart Visuthismajarn was with Faculty of Environmental Management, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand (e-mail: parichart.v@psu.ac.th).
Chitsan Lin is with the Deptartment of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung Marine University, Taiwan (e-mail: ctlin@mail.nkmu.edu.tw).
Sanae Rukkur is with Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya, Thailand (e-mail: sanae.r@rmutsv.ac.th).

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Cite: Pornpun Phimol, Parichart Visuthismajarn, Chitsan Lin, and Sanae Rukkur, "Assessment of Arsenic Concentrations and Estimated Daily Intake of Arsenic from Rice (Oryza sativa) in Ron Phibun District, Southern Thailand," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 517-520, 2017.