The risk may not be limited to flooding: polluted flood sediments pose a human health threat to the unaware public

Environmental Sciences Europe

Table 3 Daily intake of trace metals along with their PTDI levels

Trace element	Daily dose of ingested trace elements (mg/day)		Probable tolerable daily intake (mg/day)^b
Trace element	Min^a	Max^a
Pb	0.147	0.320	0.268^c [131]
As	0.007	0.016	0.161^c [132]
Cd	0.002	0.008	0.075 [133]
Sb	0.005	0.320	0.450 [134]
Ni	0.010	0.014	0.975 [135]
Zn	0.341	1.664	75 [136]
Cu	0.046	0.108	37.5 [136]
Sn	0.003	0.006	150 [137]

The intake levels are based on recommendations by the JECFA, except for the nickel PTDI, which is suggested by the European Food Safety Authority’s Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain. The listed PTDI levels for Pb and As are old levels withdrawn by now, as no safe level of exposure can be identified
^aMinimum and maximum dosage are derived from the minimum and maximum concentration of each trace metal over all samples, respectively
^bAssuming an average body weight of 75 kg
^cItalic writing indicates withdrawn intake levels, no health-protective value can be established