Segmental hair mercury evaluation of a single family along the Upper Madeira Basin, Brazilian Amazon
Mercury pollution (MeHg) up the aquatic food chains in the Amazonian ecosystems has been a major concern in environmental health. Riverside people (ribeirinhos) along the Upper Madeira river are heavy fish eaters. Hair is the best biomarker for MeHg exposure. By assuming a constant hair growth rate, it is possible to evaluate a temporal profile of Hg exposure over the recent defined past. In this paper we present the segmental total hair Hg concentrations from a single family from which some of the 10 persons investigated had high hair Hg concentrations (peak of 339 ppm). We also presented the hair MeHg content from 4 out of the 10 family members investigated. There was a wide variation in total hair Hg concentrations (8 to 339 ppm) among these individuals, who were mostly sharing their meals; there was also a wide variation in total Hg concentrations in the same individual over time (136 to 274 ppm). Hg speciation showed a mean and standard deviation in the MeHg content of 62% and 6%, respectively. The wide variation in total hair Hg concentration strongly indicated that it is possible to mitigate critical Hg exposure levels by conducting a fish advisory.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Digital revista |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
2000
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| Online Access: | http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-311X2000000300016 |
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