Pollution in backwaters in Kochi makes €sh risky to eat: study

Heavy pollution by industries in the Greater Kochi area is aŽecting backwaters, making shes dangerous to eat as they carry harmful metals, according to a new study.

The study by the Department of Marine Technology, Cochin University for Science and Technology (Cusat), and the National Centre for Coastal Research, NIOT Campus, Chennai, revealed heavy metal contamination in various species of sh and shellsh in the Cochin estuarine system in the backwaters from Aroor to Eloor, the industrial belt of Kochi.

The report published in the international science journal Springer said at least three metals — zinc, cadmium, and chromium — exceeded the toxicity threshold.

Cancer risk

The presence of cadmium in the muscle tissues of sh and shellsh considerably increases cancer risk in humans. All the dissolved metals in the Kochi backwaters showed higher concentrations compared to all other estuaries in the world, the report said.

However, the people of Ernakulam and Alappuzha, who are major consumers of the catch from the backwaters, can breathe easy now as the study revealed that the estimated daily intake was very low compared to the permissible intake limits, and thus the potential health hazard from most of these metals were found to be low.

But the study, titled ‘Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in seafood resources from the southwest coast of India: human health risk assessment and importance of seafood security’, pointed towards possible long-term risks, especially due to the intake of metals like cadmium and lead.