Authors : Rainier Dennis, Ingrid Dennis, David Hamman and Leon Van Rensburg
Abstract: Polluted cattle feed not only impacts on animal health but also on the health of humans. The aim of this study is therefore, to develop a cattle consumption model based on a control and experimental group. Animal tissue analysed for both groups were samples from cattle, 6 years of age. The experimental group had been exposed to elevated levels of pollutants emanating from the gold mining industry in South Africa. The cattle consumption model takes into account the intake of soil, grass and water by the animal. A human health risk assessment (toxic and carcinogenic) was performed based on the results of the cattle consumption model. It was shown that no toxic risk exits for both the control and experimental groups if an intake rate of 0.13 kg of meat per day is assumed. For the same consumption rate, only muscle consumption in the control group yielded an acceptable carcinogenic risk of the occurrence of one person getting cancer out of a million.
Rainier Dennis, Ingrid Dennis, David Hamman and Leon Van Rensburg, 2013. Cattle Consumption Model for the Wonderfonteinspruit Related to Human Health Risk. Agricultural Journal, 8: 144-151.