Research Article Cadmium and Lead in Blood Cockle (Anadara granosa) from Asajaya, Sarawak, Malaysia Md. Faruk Hossen, Sinin Hamdan, and Md. Rezaur Rahman Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia Correspondence should be addressed to Md. Faruk Hossen; fossen.chem@gmail.com Received 16 July 2014; Accepted 10 October 2014; Published 4 November 2014 Academic Editor: Richard J. C. Brown Copyright © 2014 Md. Faruk Hossen et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Te concentrations were ranged from 1.35 ± 0.16 to 2.22 ± 0.34 g/g (dry weight) and 2.65 ± 0.34 to 4.36 ± 0.53 g/g (dry weight) for Cd and Pb, respectively, in blood cockle Anadara granosa from four sites of Sabang River, namely, Kampung Sambir, Kampung Tambirat, Beliong Temple, and Kampung Tanjung Apong, which are located at Asajaya, Sarawak, Malaysia. All values exceeded safety limits set by Malaysian Food Regulation (1985). It may be the cause of serious human health problems afer long term consumption. Tus, consumer should have consciousness about such type of seafood from mentioned sites and need further investigation. 1. Introduction Te blood cockle Anadara granosa is a bivalve mollusc in the family Arcidae and subfamily Anadarinae and locally known as “kerang” in Malaysia [1]. Te bivalves in this family are renowned for a source of cheap protein in tropical areas, especially in the Indo-Pacifc region [2]. Terefore, marine bivalve particularly A. granosa is of considerable economic importance in Malaysia [3]. Since A. granosa is a flter feeding organism, contamination of the highly productive mudfats with heavy metals tends to be accumulated in their whole body tissue. Tis could serve as an important environmental sink of heavy metals [4] and provide an indication of river pollution. Sarawak like West Malaysia is presently undergoing rapid industrial development and there have been incidences of toxic pollution from industry [5–7]. Asajaya is a small Sarawakian town located in the Samarahan Division and adjacent to industrial areas which were reclaimed from mangrove. Te types of industry in this area presently in operation include food processing and canning, processing of agricultural products, feed mills, timber based wood products, and transport equipment. Sabang is a main river fowing into mentioned area where some fshing villages are situated and connected with Sarawak River and South China Sea. Seafood such as cockles is supplied from Asajaya to most of the seafood markets in this division. Solid and liquid wastes emanating from the industrial activities are the inevitable byproducts of manufacturing process. Tese wastes contain toxic chemicals and other substances including toxic heavy metals [8]. A number of natural and anthropogenic sources produce heavy metals. Heavy metals such as Cd and Pb are toxic even at relatively low concentration and not essential for metabolic activities [9, 10]. Te abundance of heavy metal may jeopardize human health due to the consumption of contaminated bivalves [11]. For examples, Cd may cause human carcinogen; Pb can damage blood circulation [12–14]. People are becoming more aware of the complexity of the nature and the delicate balance that exist within the global ecosystem [15]. Te discharge of efuents and associated toxic compounds into aquatic systems represents an ongoing environmental problem due to their possible impact on communities in the receiving aquatic water and a potential efect on human health [16]. In particular, in highly polluted and industrial areas, point and nonpoint sources of anthropogenic chemicals and metals have polluted rivers with highly complex mixtures of chemicals and other anthropogenic perturbations to degree where life in rivers is Hindawi Publishing Corporation e Scientific World Journal Volume 2014, Article ID 924360, 4 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/924360