Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288:reg:4:p3
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 4 (pt 3/8)
Character Range: 2129294–2132145

from Adelaide shops. Hence cadmium uptake by edible fruit and vegetable crops is expected to be sufficiently significant to warrant inclusion in the derivation of soil HILs.

Further review of plant uptake of cadmium is presented by the EA (EA 2009b). This review considered studies that are based on the uptake of cadmium into green vegetables, root vegetables, tuber vegetables, herbaceous fruit, shrub fruit and tree fruit. The review provides recommendations on soil-to-plant uptake factors that are relevant for these types of produce. The recommendations from this review have been considered in the derivation of a residential A HIL and are summarised below for the range of crops considered:

Produce Group     Plant Uptake Factors (mg/kg produce fresh weight per mg/kg soil) (EA, 2009b)
Green vegetables  0.052
Root vegetables   0.029
Tuber vegetables  0.031
Tree fruit        0.0014

It is noted that the inclusion of home-grown produce in the calculations presented for HIL A results in some double counting of intakes from fruit and vegetable produce (also included in background intakes). To address this in the derivation of HIL A, half the intake estimated to be derived from home-grown produce is assumed to be already accounted for in the total background intake (noted below).

    4.3.5         Intakes from Other Sources – Background
Reviews of cadmium (WHO 2004) included food intakes provided by FSANZ (consistent with current data from FSANZ (2003)) of 0.1 µg/kg/day. Intakes for a young child aged 25 years from the 23rd Australian Food Survey (FSANZ 2011) ranged from a mean of 0.32 µg/kg/day to a 90th percentile of 0.44 µg/kg/day. While the WHO (2004) review notes that intakes of cadmium from food can exceed the adopted toxicity reference value, data from FSANZ (2011) does not suggest this is the case.

It is noted that the inclusion of home-grown produce in the calculations presented for HIL A results in some double counting of intakes from fruit and vegetable produce. The amount of double counting cannot be easily determined and hence intakes from food sources have not been further reduced to address this issue, though the use of the data from FSANZ is considered conservative for HIL A. Based on the available data from FSANZ (2011), intakes from food comprise up to 60% of the recommended oral TRV.

Cadmium was detected in air samples collected from urban and rural areas in NSW (DEC 2003). The average concentration reported was 0.17 ng/m3, ranging from 0.3 to 1 ng/m3. These concentrations constitute <520% of the recommended inhalation TRV in air (also considered as an international target in the DEC document). Background levels for cadmium in air can be conservatively assumed to comprise 20% of the recommended inhalation TRV.

4.4              Identification of Toxicity Reference Values

    4.4.1