On the afternoon of October 15, invited by Distinguished Professor Xinde Cao and Associate Researcher Xiaoyun Xu, Professor Qiying Ma from Zhejiang University gave an insightful academic talk entitled “Bioavailability and health risks of arsenic, lead, and cadmium in contaminated soils” to the faculty and students of Shanghai Jiao Tong University at the 157th Environmental Forum.

Soil contamination by heavy metals in China is becoming a serious global environmental crisis by posing threats to agricultural products and human health. To accurately assess the risk of soil heavy metals to human health, the bioavailability of heavy metals after the ingestion into the human gastrointestinal tract needs to be considered. However, due to the late start of the research, the formulation and implementation of soil remediation measures in China are still mostly based on the total amount of heavy metals in soil, resulting in excessive remediation and control. In order to improve China's environmental health risk assessment system, Prof. Qiying Ma’s team has been committed to the study of bioavailability of heavy metals exposed to human via multiple environmental media and its regulatory mechanisms. They have conducted innovative work in key areas such as testing methods for the bioavailability of heavy metals to humans, exposure assessment and source apportionment in population, and regulatory mechanisms of bioavailability. This presentation will emphasize the current situation of research on human bioavailability in contaminated soil, testing methods, and applications in remediation of heavy metals contaminated soil.