Health and environmental assessment of mercury exposure in a gold mining community in Western Mindanao, Philippines

Cortes-Maramba, Nelia P.; Reyes, Jose Paciano; Francisco-Rivera, Ana Trinidad; Akagi, Hirokatsu; Sunio, Rose; Panganiban, Lynn Crisanta R.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2006.01.019

Cited by 48 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…A study in Mindanao, Philippines showed similar results [24]. Another study in the Talensi-Nabdam District, Ghana showed that 20% of all participants had levels of urinary mercury (>10 µg/L) and 5% had urine mercury levels of above 50 µg/L.…”

Section: Results In Comparison With Other Publicationsmentioning

confidence: 64%

Human Biomonitoring Data from Mercury Exposed Miners in Six Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining Areas in Asia and Africa

Baeuml¹,

Blüml

Gothe³

et al. 2011

Minerals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Objectives: In artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) areas in many developing countries, mercury (Hg) is used to extract gold from ore. Data of 1250 participants from Indonesia, Mongolia, Philippines, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe were combined to analyze the relation between exposure in ASGM areas and body burden. Methods: Four groups were selected relating to their intensity of contact with mercury: (i) a non-exposed control group; (ii) a low exposed group with participants only living in mining areas, but not working as miners; (iii) a medium exposed group, miners living in exposed areas and working with mercury without smelting amalgam; and (iv) a high OPEN ACCESSMinerals 2011, 1 123 exposed group, miners living in exposed areas and smelting amalgam. Results: Compared to the non-exposed control group, participants living and/ or miners working in highly exposed areas have significantly higher concentration of total mercury in urine, hair and blood (p-value < 0.001). The median mercury value in urine in the control group is <0.2 µg/L. In the high exposed group of amalgam smelters, the median in urine is 12.0 µg/L. The median in blood in the control group is <0.93 µg/L. The median level in blood of the high exposed group is 7.56 µg/L. The median for mercury in hair samples from the control group is 0.21 µg/g. In the high exposed group the median hair concentration is 2.4 µg/g hair. Mercury levels also differ considerably between the countries, reflecting a diverse background burden due to different fish eating habits and different work place methods. Conclusions: A high percentage of exposed individuals had levels above threshold values. These high levels of mercury are likely to be related with serious health problems.

show abstract

Section: Results In Comparison With Other Publicationsmentioning

confidence: 64%

Human Biomonitoring Data from Mercury Exposed Miners in Six Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining Areas in Asia and Africa

Baeuml¹,

Blüml

Gothe³

et al. 2011

Minerals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Two studies found a positive association between MeHg exposure and systolic blood pressure (SBP): a study of Inuit adults (Valera et al 2009b) and a study of individuals from the Brazilian Amazon (Fillion et al 2006). In addition, two studies report positive associations between MeHg exposure and increased diastolic blood pressure (DBP): the Faroese whaling men study by Choi et al (2009) and a study in a Philippine gold mining community (Cortes-Maramba et al 2006). However, the latter study may include Hg intake via routes other than fish and through forms of Hg other than MeHg (e.g., documented storage of elemental Hg in homes).…”

Section: Workhop Findings and Near-term Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the Cardiovascular Effects of Methylmercury Exposures: Current Evidence Supports Development of a Dose–Response Function for Regulatory Benefits Analysis

Roman¹,

Walsh²,

Coull

et al. 2011

Environ Health Perspect

210

130

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has estimated the neurological benefits of reductions in prenatal methylmercury (MeHg) exposure in past assessments of rules controlling mercury (Hg) emissions. A growing body of evidence suggests that MeHg exposure can also lead to increased risks of adverse cardiovascular impacts in exposed populations.Data extractionThe U.S. EPA assembled the authors of this article to participate in a workshop, where we reviewed the current science concerning cardiovascular health effects of MeHg exposure via fish and seafood consumption and provided recommendations concerning whether cardiovascular health effects should be included in future Hg regulatory impact analyses.Data synthesisWe found the body of evidence exploring the link between MeHg and acute myocardial infarction (MI) to be sufficiently strong to support its inclusion in future benefits analyses, based both on direct epidemiological evidence of an MeHg–MI link and on MeHg’s association with intermediary impacts that contribute to MI risk. Although additional research in this area would be beneficial to further clarify key characteristics of this relationship and the biological mechanisms that underlie it, we consider the current epidemiological literature sufficiently robust to support the development of a dose–response function.ConclusionsWe recommend the development of a dose–response function relating MeHg exposures with MIs for use in regulatory benefits analyses of future rules targeting Hg air emissions.

show abstract

“…Human health risks due to mercury exposure are well known with kidney damage and signs of highly devastating neurotoxicity particularly in the central and peripheral nervous systems (Aschner and Aschner 1990;Langford and Ferner 1999;Magos 1997;Tchounwou et al 2003;Zalups 2000) as prime examples. DiVerent studies (Bose-O'Reilly et al 2008;Castilhos et al 2006;Corbett et al 2007;Cortes-Maramba et al 2006;da Costa et al 2008;Peplow and Augustine 2007;van Straaten 2000a, b;Veiga et al 2006) show that mercury contamination is still an active worldwide issue for both humans and the environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human mercury exposure associated with small-scale gold mining in Burkina Faso

Tomicic

Vernez

Belem³

et al. 2011

Int Arch Occup Environ Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Health and environmental assessment of mercury exposure in a gold mining community in Western Mindanao, Philippines

Cited by 48 publications

References 6 publications

Human Biomonitoring Data from Mercury Exposed Miners in Six Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining Areas in Asia and Africa

Human Biomonitoring Data from Mercury Exposed Miners in Six Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining Areas in Asia and Africa

Evaluation of the Cardiovascular Effects of Methylmercury Exposures: Current Evidence Supports Development of a Dose–Response Function for Regulatory Benefits Analysis

Human mercury exposure associated with small-scale gold mining in Burkina Faso

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About