210Po and 210Pb concentrations in fish consumed in Syria

Concentrations of Po-210 and Pb-210 were determined in the edible muscle tissue of 36 species of marine fish and seven species of fresh water fish collected from Syrian local markets. Concentrations in sea fish were found to vary between 0.27 and 27.48 Bq kg(-1) fresh wt and 0.05-0.38 Bq kg(-1) fresh wt for Po-210 and Pb-210, respectively. On the other hand, in fresh water fish, the concentrations were relatively low and varied between 0.61 and 3.08 Bq kg(-1) fresh wt for Po-210 and 0.04 to 0.10 Bq kg(-1) fresh wt for Pb-210. These variations in Po-210 and Pb-210 content in different species are due to differences in metabolism and feeding patterns. However, the highest levels were observed in Euthynnus alletteratus and Sardinella sp collected from different markets. The daily levels of intake due to fish consumption containing Po-210 and Pb-210 were calculated and found to be 6.0 and 0.24 mBq respectively, which are much lower than those reported in other countries. In addition, the collective doses were found to be 5.09 and 2.93 man.Sv for Po-210 and Pb-210 respectively. This suggests that the dose received by Syrians due to consumption of sea and river fish is rather small. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.