Blood cadmium, mercury, and lead in children: An international comparison of cities in six European countries, and China, Ecuador, and Morocco

Hrubá, F; Strömberg, Ulf; Černá, Milena; Chen, Chunying; Harari, Florencia; Harari, Raúl; Horvat, Milena; Koppová, Kvetoslava; Kos, Andreja; Krsková, Andrea; Krsnik, Mladen; Laamech, Jawhar; Yu-feng, LI; Löfmark, Lina; Lundh, Thomas; Lundström, Nils-Göran; Lyoussi, Badiâa; Mazej, Darja; Osredkar, Joško; Pawlas, Krystyna; Pawlas, Natalia; Prokopowicz, Adam; Rentschler, Gerda; Spěváĉková, Věra; Špirić, Zdravko; Tratnik, Janja Snoj; Skerfving, Staffan; Bergdahl, Ingvar A.

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2011.12.001

Cited by 111 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The respective data indicate that total mercury blood concentrations can differ considerably between European countries and that these differences seem to be related to amalgam fillings and fish intake (Hrubá et al, 2012). The study by Miklavčič et al (in press) compared total mercury levels in human milk and cord blood in four Mediterranean European countries and observed statistically significant differences between countries.…”

Section: Concentrations In Biological Samples From the European Populmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scientific Opinion on the risk for public health related to the presence of mercury and methylmercury in food

2012

EFS2

465

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EFSA was asked by the European Commission to consider new developments regarding inorganic mercury and methylmercury toxicity and evaluate whether the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) provisional tolerable weekly intakes for methylmercury of 1.6 µg/kg body weight (b.w.) and of 4 µg/kg b.w. for inorganic mercury were still appropriate. In line with JECFA, the CONTAM Panel established a tolerable weekly intake (TWI) for inorganic mercury of 4 µg/kg b.w., expressed as mercury. For methylmercury, new developments in epidemiological studies from the Seychelles Child Developmental Study Nutrition Cohort have indicated that n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish may counteract negative effects from methylmercury exposure. Together with the information that beneficial nutrients in fish may have confounded previous adverse outcomes in child cohort studies from the Faroe Islands, the Panel established a TWI for methylmercury of 1.3 µg/kg b.w., expressed as mercury. The mean dietary exposure across age groups does not exceed the TWI for methylmercury, with the exception of toddlers and other children in some surveys. The 95 th percentile dietary exposure is close to or above the TWI for all age groups. High fish consumers, which might include pregnant women, may exceed the TWI by up to approximately six-fold. Unborn children constitute the most vulnerable group. Biomonitoring data from blood and hair indicate that methylmercury exposure is generally below the TWI in Europe, but higher levels are also observed. Exposure to methylmercury above the TWI is of concern. If measures to reduce methylmercury exposure are considered, the potential beneficial effects of fish consumption should also be taken into account. Dietary inorganic mercury exposure in Europe does not exceed the TWI, but inhalation exposure of elemental mercury from dental amalgam is likely to increase the internal inorganic mercury exposure; thus the TWI might be exceeded. This opinion focuses only on the risks related to dietary inorganic mercury and methylmercury exposure and does not assess the nutritional benefits linked to certain foods (e.g. fish and other seafood).A call for annual collection of chemical contaminant occurrence data in food and feed, including mercury, was issued by EFSA in December 2010. In response, EFSA received 59 820 results on mercury in food from 20 European countries, mainly covering the period from 2004 to 2011. A total number of 59 650 results were described with sufficient detail to be used in the statistical analysis of the respective food groups; 98.2 % of the samples were for total mercury, 1.8 % for methylmercury and three samples for inorganic mercury.All the 20 food groups available at the first level of FoodEx were covered in the current data collection. The food groups 'Fish and other seafood' and 'Meat and meat products' dominated the food product coverage with 36.8 % and 17.6 % respectively. These were followed by 'Grain and grain-based products' at 7.8 % and 'Vegetables an...

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Section: Concentrations In Biological Samples From the European Populmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As indicated from the data presented in these tables, considerable differences exist between European countries. The study by Hrubá et al (2012) is the only study that directly compared total mercury blood levels in children (7 -14 years of age) in six European countries.…”

Section: Concentrations In Biological Samples From the European Populmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientific Opinion on the risk for public health related to the presence of mercury and methylmercury in food

2012

EFS2

465

160

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“…This can be explained by the low number of cigarettes smoked at the children's homes. The exposure to passive smoking can explain well the relatively high BLLs in children from the rural area that are exposed ranging between 10 μg/l and 20 μg/l [28][29][30]. Children with a BLLs mean above the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) level of concern (≥ 100 μg/l) [23] represented about 8% of the population (out of whom 75% lived in the urban area), this percentage is lower that the percentage reported in the studies on Egyptian children (25% and 43%, respectively) [26,27].…”

Section: Ijomeh 2014;27(4)mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The BCLs means were lower than those reported in 103 primary school children (6-12 years old) in Cairo city (1.34 μg/l) [59] and proved to be lower also in comparison with the means in French, Canadian an Chinese children living in urban areas (0.48 μg/l, 0.35 μg/l and 0.69 μg/l, respectively) [32,53,60], but they are somehow elevated in comparison with the BCLs means in children from many urban areas in Central Europe cities [28,[61][62][63][64].…”

Section: Blood Cadmiummentioning

confidence: 99%

Blood lead, cadmium and mercury among children from urban, industrial and rural areas of Fez Boulemane Region (Morocco): Relevant factors and early renal effects

Laamech¹,

Bernard²,

Dumont³

et al. 2014

International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health

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Objectives: To describe blood lead (Pb-B), cadmium (Cd-B) and mercury (Hg-B) levels in children living in urban, industrial and rural areas in Fez city (north of Morocco) and to identify the determinants and some renal effects of exposure. Material and Methods: The study was conducted from June 2007 to January 2008 in 209 school children (113 girls, 96 boys), aged 6-12 years, from urban, industrial and rural areas in Fez city. Interview and questionnaires data were obtained. Blood and urinary samples were analyzed. Results: The mean of blood lead levels (Pb-B) in our population was 55.53 μg/l (range: 7.5-231.1 μg/l). Children from the urban area had higher blood lead levels (BLLs) mean (82.36 μg/l) than children from industrial and rural areas (48.23 and 35.99 μg/l, respectively); with no significant difference between boys and girls. BLLs were associated with traffic intensity, passive smoking and infancy in the urban area. The mean of blood cadmium levels (BCLs) was 0.22 μg/l (range: 0.06-0.68 μg/l), with no difference between various areas. Rural boys had higher BCLs mean than rural girls, but no gender influence was noticed in the other areas. BCLs were associated with the number of cigarettes smoked at children's homes. The blood mercury levels (BMLs) mean was 0.49 μg/l (range: 0.01-5.31 μg/l). The BMLs mean was higher in urban and industrial areas than in the rural area with no gender-related difference. BMLs were associated with amalgam fillings and infancy in the urban area. About 8% of the children had BLLs ≥ 100 μg/l particularly in the urban area, microalbuminuria and a decrease in height were noticed in girls from the inner city of Fez and that can be related to high BLLs (89.45 μg/l). Conclusions: There is a need to control and regulate potential sources of contamination by these trace elements in children; particularly for lead.

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“…Zinc, copper, nickel, and cadmium are the most important dissolved ecotoxicants in stormwater, which, through their bioavailability and bioaccumulation in aquatic and marine food chains, may result in reduction of biodiversity and ultimately the contamination of human water and food supplies [49,50].…”

Section: Dissolved-phase Heavy Metalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollution Removal Performance of Laboratory Simulations of Sydney’s Street Stormwater Biofilters

Macnamara

Derry

2017

Water

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Abstract:The City of Sydney is constructing more than 21,000 square metres of street biofilter units (raingardens) in terms of their Decentralised Water Master Plan (DWMP), for improving the quality of stormwater runoff to Port Jackson, the Cooks River, and the historical Botany Bay. Recharge of the Botany Sand Beds aquifer, currently undergoing remediation by extraction of industrial chlorinated hydrocarbon pollutants, is also envisaged. To anticipate the pollution removal efficiency of field biofilter designs, laboratory soil-column simulations were developed by Western Sydney University partnered with the City. Synthetic stormwater containing stoichiometric amounts of high-solubility pollutant salts in deionised water was passed through 104 mm columns that were layered to simulate monophasic and biphasic field designs. Both designs met the City's improvement targets for total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), with >65% median removal efficiency. Prolonged release of total suspended solids (SS) on startup emphasised the need for specifications and testing of proprietary fills. Median removal efficiency for selected heavy metal ecotoxicants was >75%. The researchers suggested that Zinc be added to the targets as proxy for metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and oils/greases co-generated during road use. Simulation results suggested that field units will play an important role in meeting regional stormwater improvement targets.

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Blood cadmium, mercury, and lead in children: An international comparison of cities in six European countries, and China, Ecuador, and Morocco

Cited by 111 publications

References 14 publications

Scientific Opinion on the risk for public health related to the presence of mercury and methylmercury in food

Scientific Opinion on the risk for public health related to the presence of mercury and methylmercury in food

Blood lead, cadmium and mercury among children from urban, industrial and rural areas of Fez Boulemane Region (Morocco): Relevant factors and early renal effects

Pollution Removal Performance of Laboratory Simulations of Sydney’s Street Stormwater Biofilters

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