Performing Department
Dept: Stockbridge Sch of Agric
Non Technical Summary
Metalloid Arsenic (As) and heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), chromium (Cr), etc., contamination is widely recognized as a global health problem. These toxic elements cause cancer and damage to most human organs.These toxic elements are non-biodegradable and accumulate in soil. Numerous studies have shown that crops grown on contaminated soils can accumulate high levels of As and other toxic metals in roots, shoots, and seeds. Importantly, rice is well known to accumulate high levels of As and Cd in edible grains. Recent Congressional reports have highlighted the significance and severity of this problem in many food commodities. Thus, toxic elemental uptake by crop plants plays an important role in the transfer of these toxicants into the food chain.Reducing exposure to harmful substances in food is highly desired, especially for infants, young children, and pregnant women. There is an urgent need to understand the interactions and complexity of these toxic elements in soil and sediments.This proposed Educational Seminar Series will expand the outreach to wider audiences and will focus on the issue of toxic metal contamination in the food system and its impact on human health, particularly for vulnerable groups such as infants, children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. The series will address key knowledge gaps in the mechanistic understanding of toxic metal interaction in soil and uptake by plants, as well as the development of tools for the detection and speciation of metals and metalloids in soil and plant tissues. Additionally, the seminars and special sessions will examine the sources of these metals and their increasing concentrations during food processing, with discussions involving industry participants. Participating experts will represent various disciplines and contribute to the delivery of a conclusive report with recommendations on needed next steps to fill key knowledge gaps.?
Animal Health Component
10%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
90%
Applied
10%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this Educational Seminar Series is to raise public awareness on heavy metal toxicity and risk mitigation strategies. Four in person seminars, two online webinars and one special session at a national/international conference will be organized to raise awareness of the issues of the contamination of the US food supply with toxic metal(loid)s (arsenic, cadmium, Hg, chromium, lead, others). These seminars, webinars and special session will include experts from academia and industry who will highlight the risks posed from toxic metals in foods, including during production in the field and processing prior to sale. There will also be a focus on mitigation strategies to minimize the risks and exposure associated with food chain contamination.
Project Methods
As described in the earlier section,this seminar series will include four in-person seminars at four different locations, with potential sites including UMass Amherst, Stony Book University, University of Delaware and University of Texas at El Paso. There will also be two online webinars, and one special session at a national/international conference to raise awareness of the issues of the contamination of the US food supply with toxic metals. All of these events will be widely advertised to enhance the participation of faculty, students and stakeholders from public.