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Trace Elements in Abiotic and Biotic Environments
(WHO 1989). The EU legislation suggests the maximum limit of inorganic Sn as follows: 200 mg/kg in canned foods, 100 mg/L in canned beverages, and 50 mg/kg in
canned liquid foods for children (EC 2006).
The average daily Sn intake of an adult in the United States was estimated to be
about 4 mg (4 mg from food and 0.003 mg from air). Its intake from drinking water
is undetectable (ATSDR 2005b). In 2006, the total diet study (TDS) in the United
Kingdom reported that canned vegetables group and fruit product group contributed 65% and 34% of Sn, respectively; their intake was estimated to be 1.8 mg/day.
Population dietary exposure to Sn from the TDS in the United Kingdom, during the
period 1976–2000, decreased from 4.4 to 1.4 mg/day (Rose et al. 2010).
In a market basket study in Japan, daily intakes of TBT and triphenyltin (TPT) in
Japan were estimated to be 6.9 and 5.4 μg, respectively, in 1991, and 6.7 and 1.3 μg,
respectively, in 1992. About 95% of the daily intakes of TPT was from fish, mollusk,
and crustacean food groups.
Mono- and dimethyltin and mono- and dibutyltin compounds have been detected in
drinking water in Canada, where PVC pipes, containing these organotin compounds,
are used in the distribution of drinking water (ATSDR 2005b).