Exposure of the urban population to mercury in Changchun city, Northeast China

Abstract

An assessment of exposure to mercury in Changchun city has been undertaken. We estimated Hg exposure to members of the general population based on currently available information and our research. We also studied the Hg concentrations in scalp hair of adults. Adults have an estimated intake of all Hg species via all routes of 6.780 microg day(-1) (excluding dental amalgam), which equates to an absorbed dose of 1.718 microg day(-1). Fish consumption was the most important exposure route (12% of intake, 43% of absorbed dose). Furthermore, air, cereals and vegetables were important exposure routes, and these exposure were estimated for absorbed dosed at 0.296, 0.209 and 0.318 microg day(-1), respectively. The mean Hg concentration in hair was 0.448 microg g(-1) (range 0.092-10.463 microg g(-1)). Hg concentration in the hair of males was 0.422 microg g(-1) (0.105-2.665 microg g(-1)), and was 0.474 microg g(-1)(0.092-10.463 microg g(-)1) in the hair of females. Neither place of residence nor age had any significant effect on hair Hg concentrations.

Mercury and Arsenic Bioaccumulation and Eutrophication in Baiyangdian Lake, China

“…Although China has some of the highest Hg emissions levels globally, relatively few studies have been conducted there on the bioaccumulation and biomagnification of Hg in freshwater fish, the main vector of Hg to humans [Li et al, 2006;Wu et al, 2006]. Total Hg concentrations measured in the environment and in biota comprise inorganic and organic species.…”

“…Moreover, reservoir formation for agriculture or hydroelectric power can produce a significant increase in mercury concentrations in fish inhabiting the reservoirs [Bodaly et al, 1984;Jackson, 1991;Jin et al, 1999;Kidd et al, 1999]. In China, fish consumption is known to be the most important exposure route for Hg and yet very little research has been conducted on Hg trophic transfer in aquatic food webs and virtually none on freshwater food webs [Jiang et al, 2006;Li et al, 2006].…”

Global methylmercury exposure from seafood consumption and risk of developmental neurotoxicity: a systematic review

“…The characteristics of the selected studies are provided in Table 3 and Table 4 (both available at: http://www.who.int/ bulletin/volumes/92/04/13-116152). 74,75 Chile, 76 China, [77][78][79][80][81] Colombia, 82 Italy, 83,84 Kazakhstan, 85 Mexico, 87 Morocco, 88 Nicaragua, 89 Norway, 115 the Republic of Korea, 86 Romania, 90 Slovakia, 81,91 Sweden, 92 Taiwan, China, 93 the United States 94 and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), 95 the pooled central THHg median biomarker was 0.8 µg/g (upper bound: 4.6). In 14 subpopulations consuming fish periodically from non-industry-contaminated waters in Botswana, 96 Canada, [97][98][99][100][101][102] Norway, 115 Portugal, 117 Spain, 118 Sweden, 81,92,[112][113][114]119 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 120,121 and the United States 122-131 was 0.4 µg/g (upper bound: 2.9).…”

Study of spatiotemporal variation of atmospheric mercury and its human exposure around an integrated steel plant, India

“…Mercury is considered as a toxic trace element to humans, animals, and the ecosystem because of its unique geochemical characteristics (Drasch et al, 2004 andLi et al, 2006). Risk of mercury-associated adverse health effects are neuropsychological deficits in children and woman after in utero methylmercury (MeHg) exposure (Kathryn et al, 2009).…”

“…Mercury presence in human biomarkers and resulting health effects has been reported earlier (Kales andGoldman, 2002 andWHO, 2003). Bio intake of mercury using hair-Hg as human biomarker has been estimated tobe 6.780 µg day −1 in Changchun city, Northeast China (Li et al, 2006). The association between elevated blood pressure and blood cadmium and mercury levels was examined (2001)(2002) (Farzin et al, 2008).…”