Yanmin Wang^{1, 2}, Hong Zhou^{1, 2}, Li Xiong^{1, 2}, Chengwei Liu^{1, 2}, Xingyong You^{1, 2,}

The content of rare earth elements (REEs) in cereal were investigated, the risks of REEs exposure to human health were assessed. 428 cereal samples were collected from rare earth mining area and control area in Jiangxi, South China. The contents of 14 rare earth elements were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The average concentrations of total rare earth elements in cereal from mining and control areas were 99.03 μg/kg and 34.21 μg/kg, and the difference was statistically significant (t=4.81, P=0.001). The Rice had the highest rare earth elements concentrations (102.79 μg/kg and 35.28 μg/kg for mining and control areas, respectively) and Maize had the lowest rare earth elements concentrations (76.98 μg/kg and 26.95 μg/kg for mining and control areas, respectively). The rare earth elements distribution patterns for both areas were characterized by enrichment of light rare earth elements. The health risk assessment demonstrated that the estimated daily intakes of rare earth elements through cereal consumption were considerably lower than the acceptable daily intake (70 μg/kg bw). The human health risks of REEs associated with cereal are low, but more attention should be paid to the effects of continuous exposure to rare earth elements on children.

rare earth elements, cereal, health risk assessment, ICP-MS, China REE mining areas