concentration and risk assessment of arsenic, cadmium and lead in husked and de-husked rice samples from niger and kebbi states, nigeria

Toxic metals are implicated in many health implications especially in areas of indiscriminate mining activities. a total of 100 (50 husked and 50 de-husked) rice samples were randomly collected from kebbi and niger states, nigeria. arsenic, cadmium and lead were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (icp-ms). arsenic was highest (172.58 ± 5.75) μg kg^-1 in husked rice from koshaba while the de-husked rice samples from gwadan gaji had highest concentration (114.29 ± 3.97) μg kg^-1 of arsenic. highest concentrations of cadmium was obtained in both the husked (43.29 ± 2.06) μg kg^-1 and de-husked (66.13 ± 1.20) μg kg^-1 rice samples from tondi yauri. husked rice samples of dukune had highest lead concentration (53.19 ± 3.09) μg kg^-1 while the de-husked rice samples of yauri had highest lead concentration (60.11 ± 2.18) μg kg^-1. percentage daily intake (%tdi) of arsenic was highest in most samples while contamination below detection limits was observed in few samples.