Mercury Hazards from Gold Mining to Humans, Plants, and Animals

Eisler, Ronald

doi:10.1007/0-387-21733-9_4

Cited by 63 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 191 publications

(228 reference statements)

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“…The mercury profile also highlights two pulse events ranging from 60 to 72 mo and from 120 to 126 mo. Because this blue whale appeared to routinely traverse the coast of California (ship strike near Santa Barbara, CA), we speculate that these pulse events may be associated with regional environmental and/or anthropogenic increases of mercury (38).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blue whale earplug reveals lifetime contaminant exposure and hormone profiles

Trumble

Robinson

Berman‐Kowalewski

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Lifetime contaminant and hormonal profiles have been reconstructed for an individual male blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus, Linnaeus 1758) using the earplug as a natural aging matrix that is also capable of archiving and preserving lipophilic compounds. These unprecedented lifetime profiles (i.e., birth to death) were reconstructed with a 6-mo resolution for a wide range of analytes including cortisol (stress hormone), testosterone (developmental hormone), organic contaminants (e.g., pesticides and flame retardants), and mercury. Cortisol lifetime profiles revealed a doubling of cortisol levels over baseline. Testosterone profiles suggest this male blue whale reached sexual maturity at approximately 10 y of age, which corresponds well with and improves on previous estimates. Early periods of the reconstructed contaminant profiles for pesticides (such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes and chlordanes), polychlorinated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers demonstrate significant maternal transfer occurred at 0-12 mo. The total lifetime organic contaminant burden measured between the earplug (sum of contaminants in laminae layers) and blubber samples from the same organism were similar. Total mercury profiles revealed reduced maternal transfer and two distinct pulse events compared with organic contaminants. The use of a whale earplug to reconstruct lifetime chemical profiles will allow for a more comprehensive examination of stress, development, and contaminant exposure, as well as improve the assessment of contaminant use/emission, environmental noise, ship traffic, and climate change on these important marine sentinels.cetaceans | cerumen | persistent organic pollutants

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blue whale earplug reveals lifetime contaminant exposure and hormone profiles

Trumble

Robinson

Berman‐Kowalewski

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…97 Another report also showed that daily intake of 1,100 mg/kg of mercury induced significantly adverse effect in nonhuman mammals. 98 The study of Nakagawa has shown that the total mercury concentrations in the hair of ordinary diseased people, including diabetes, were from 2.08 to 36.5 ppm; those values were considerably higher than that of healthy people of the same age-groups. 99 Organic or inorganic mercury compounds are well known to induce cellular damage in various cell types, such as renal cells, 92 astrocytes, 100 lymphoma cells, 101 human gingival fibroblast cells, 102 alveolar epithelial cells 103 and pancreatic islet β-cells.…”

Section: Mercurymentioning

confidence: 97%

Heavy metals, islet function and diabetes development

Lin¹,

Yang²,

Huang³

et al. 2009

Islets

210

131

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“…People are then exposed, for example, by eating contaminated fish. Environmental mercury contamination from mining practices that rely on mercury amalgamation for gold extraction is widespread (Eisler, 2004). Contamination is very high in the immediate vicinity of active gold extraction and refining operations.…”

Section: Food-chain Exposure Pathwaymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Very high environmental concentrations of mercury from this source have been measured in Canada, the United States, Africa, China, the Philippines, Siberia, and South America (Eisler, 2004). In parts of Brazil, for example, mercury concentrations in abiotic materials, plants, and animals collected near ongoing mercury amalgamation gold mining sites were far in excess of allowable mercury levels promulgated by regulatory agencies for the protection of human health and natural resources (Eisler, 2004). In industrial countries, sources of mercury contamination include smelting processes, coal-fired power plants, incinerators, and chlorine production (UNEP, 2002;USEPA, 2004a).…”

Section: Food-chain Exposure Pathwaymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In industrial countries, sources of mercury contamination include smelting processes, coal-fired power plants, incinerators, and chlorine production (UNEP, 2002;USEPA, 2004a). Mercury, especially in the form of water-soluble methylmercury, may be transported to pristine areas by rainwater, water currents, deforestation, volatilization, and other vectors (Eisler, 2004).…”

Section: Food-chain Exposure Pathwaymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Expressing urine from a gel disposable diaper for biomonitoring using phthalates as an example

Liu

Xia

Guo

et al. 2012

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

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The urinary metabolites of phthalates are well-accepted exposure biomarkers for adults and children older than 6 years but are not commonly used for infants owing to non-convenient sampling. In the light of this situation, a novel sampling method based on monitoring the urine expressed from the gel diaper was developed. The urine was expressed from the gel absorbent after mixing the absorbent with CaCl2 and then collected by a laboratory-made device; the urinary phthalate metabolites were extracted and cleaned using a solid-phase extraction (SPE) column and analyzed with high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry / mass spectrometry. To evaluate the method's feasibility, the following factors were investigated: the proportion of CaCl2 to gel absorbent, the urination volume variation and the target compounds' deposition bias in the diaper, the matrix blank of the different diaper brands, the storage stabilities and the recoveries of creatinine and phthalate metabolites in the expressed urine. Mono-methyl phthalate, mono-ethyl phthalate, mono-butyl phthalate, mono-benzyl phthalate, mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate and mono-2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl phthalate were involved. 70-80% of the urine can be expressed from the diaper, and the expressed spiking recoveries and the limit of detection of mono-phthalates ranged from 88.5-115% and 0.21-0.50 ng/ml. The method was applied to measure phthalate metabolites in 65 gel diaper samples from 15 infants, and the pilot data suggests the infants are commonly exposed to phthalates. In summary, the method for monitoring of infant exposure to phthalates is sound and validated, and the potential health effects from the vulnerable infants' exposure to phthalates should be concerned.39th Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars (SRF for ROCS); Hundred Talent Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams [KZCX2-YW-T08

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Mercury Hazards from Gold Mining to Humans, Plants, and Animals

Cited by 63 publications

References 191 publications

Blue whale earplug reveals lifetime contaminant exposure and hormone profiles

Blue whale earplug reveals lifetime contaminant exposure and hormone profiles

Heavy metals, islet function and diabetes development

Expressing urine from a gel disposable diaper for biomonitoring using phthalates as an example

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