Overview
A short University of Port Harcourt study measured lead, arsenic and cadmium by X-ray fluorescence in the flesh of two tilapia species caught in the Bodo River in Ogoniland, an area affected by oil spills. Table 1 gives one value per species. The authors conclude both species from this river are unsafe to eat.
Key numbers
- Tilapia guineensis: lead 5, arsenic 2.1, cadmium 1.7 mg/kg (Table 1).
- Sarotherodon melanotheron: lead 3.2, arsenic 1.8, cadmium 0.6 mg/kg (Table 1).
Methods (brief)
Five fish per species were iced, and the flesh was oven-dried at 110 °C, powdered and pressed into pellets for XRF screening against a stored calibration with certified reference materials (USEPA 6200). No detection limits, replicates or recoveries are reported, and the weight basis is not stated.
Evidence Fitness
Wild fish from an oil-polluted river, so the values describe a contaminated site, not retail fish. XRF on pressed pellets is a screening method with limited sensitivity for these metals in food. Only one value per species is printed. The abstract gives a cadmium range up to 2 mg/kg, which does not match Table 1 (up to 1.7 mg/kg). The PDF prints the volume as 2016 (manifest year 2017) and no DOI.