Abstract
On 7 December 2007, about 12,547 kL of crude oil spilled from the Hong Kong registered tanker Hebei Spirit along the west coast of the Republic of Korea, including Taean-gun, Chungcheongnamdo Province. This study evaluated the safety of seafood collected from the coastal area polluted by the crude oil. The range of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (<TEX>${\sum}PAHs$</TEX>) at 22 stations was 3.9-37.1 ng/g. The concentration of <TEX>${\sum}PAHs$</TEX> was higher in oysters, Crassoatrea gias, than that in short-necked clams, Ruditapes philippinarum. Benzo(a)pyrene, a highly toxic PAH, ranged from 0.07-1.47 ng/g, which did not exceed the European Union regulatory limit for benzo(a)pyrene. The toxicity equivalent of benzo(a)pyrene in oysters and short-necked clams was 0.49-1.70 and 0.09-1.01 ng/g, respectively. The estimated life time cancer risk was very low, i.e., <TEX>$1.31{\times}10^{-8}$</TEX> for the oysters and <TEX>$6.9{\times}10^{-9}$</TEX> for the short-necked clams. The body burden of PAHs in bivalves originated mostly from petroleum contamination, but the levels was not sufficiently high to harm human health.
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