The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) partnered with researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health’s (HSPH) Program on Water and Health (PWH), and Penn Future to study biomarkers of environmental exposure to methyl mercury (MeHg). The overarching goals of the study were to raise awareness and generate discussion among SEJ members about sources of environmental Hg pollution; routes of human exposure to MeHg and potential adverse health effects; and techniques for assessing MeHg exposure. The study also presented an opportunity for attendees of the SEJ October 2004 conference to obtain a biomarker estimate of their recent personal exposure to MeHg, and to identify the patterns of behaviour that best explain MeHg exposure among study participants.
The results of the study were somewhat unexpected:
- More than 27% of 260 conference attendees who volunteered hair
samples had concentrations that exceeded the U.S. EPA recommended
levels.
- The median mercury concentration was 0.5 parts per million (ppm).
- The highest level discovered was 10.2 ppm.
EPA considers concentrations less than 1 ppm in the hair a low
risk for adverse health effects. From analysing self-reported diet
surveys, the study’s authors say that the number of fish meals consumed
in the prior month was the strongest predictor of mercury levels in the
hair. John Spengler of the Harvard School of Public Health performed
the study and found that his own mercury level was 3.4 ppm, more than
three times the EPA limit.
A follow-up “high-end” fish consumer study found that people
who substantially reduced their consumption of fish containing moderate
to high Hg levels were able to decrease their Hg biomarker levels to
below the RfD-level within 41 weeks of altering their diet (in that
case, Hg in blood was the biomarker measured).
Related Studies
Staffan Skerfving,
Methylmercury exposure, mercury levels in blood and hair, and health status in Swedes consuming contamined fish, Toxicology, 2 (1974) 3-23.
DOI: 10.1016/0300-483X(74)90038-9 M.D. Turner, D.A. Marsh, J.C. Smith, J. Englis, T.W. Clarkson, C.E. Rubio, J. Chiriboga, C.C. Chiriboga,
Methylmercury in populations eating large quantities of marine fish, Arch. Environ. Health, 35 (1980) 367-378.
DOI:
10.1080/00039896.1980.10667521
Agneta Oskarsson,
Mercury Levels in Hair From People Eating Large Quantities of Swedish Freshwater Fish, Food Addit. Contam., 7/4 (1990) 555-562.
DOI: 10.1080/02652039009373918 O. Malm, F.J.P. Branches, H. Akagi, M.B. Castro, W. Pfeiffer, M. Harada, W.R. Bastos, H. Kato,
Mercury and methylmercury in fish and human hair from the Tapajós River basin, Brazil, Sci. Total Environ., 175 (1995) 141-150.
DOI: 10.1016/0048-9697(95)04910-X O. Malm, J.R.D. Guimaraes, M.B. Castro, W.R. Bastos, J.P. Viana, F.J.P. Branches, E.G. Silveira, W.C. Pfeiffer,
Follow-up of mercury levels in fish, human hair and urine in the Madeira and Tapajos basins, Amazon, Brazil, Water, Air, Soil Pollut., 97/1-2 (1997) 45-51.
DOI: 10.1023/A:1018340619475 H.A. Kehrig, O. Malm, H. Akagi, J.R. Guimaraes,
Methylmercury in fish and hair samples from the Balbina reservoir, Brazilian Amazon, Environ. Res. (U.S.A), 77/2 (1998) 84-90. DOI:
10.1006/enrs.1998.3836 S. Hacon, E. Yokoo, J. Valente, R.C. Campos, V.A. da Silva, A.C.C. de Menezes, L.P. de Moraes, E. Ignotti,
Exposure to Mercury in Pregnant Women from Alta Floresta - Amazon Basin, Brazil, Environ. Res. (U.S.A), 84/3 (2000) 204-210.
DOI:
10.1006/enrs.2000.4115 Jesus Olivero, Boris Johnson, Eduardo Arguello,
Human exposure to mercury in San Jorge river basin, Colombia (South America), Sci. Total Environ., 289/1-3 (2002) 41-47.
DOI: 10.1016/S0048-9697(01)01018-x José G. Dorea, Antonio C. Barbosa, Iris Ferrari, Jurandir R. De Souza,
Mercury in hair and in fish consumed by Riparian women of the Rio Negro, Amazon, Brazil, Int. J. Environ. Health Res., 13/3 (2003) 239-248.
DOI:
10.1080/0960312031000122398
M.A.
McDowell, C.F. Dillon, J. Osterloh, P.M. Bolger, E. Pellizzari, R.
Fernando, R. Montes de Oca, S.E. Schober, T. Sinks, R.L. Jones, K.R.,
Hair Mercury Levels in U.S. Children and Women of Childbearing Age: Reference Range Data from NHANES 1999-2000, Environ. Health Perspect., 112/11 (2004) 1165-1171.
DOI: 10.1289/ehp.7046 M. Legrand, C. Ritchie, P. Arp, H.M. Chan,
Mercury exposure in two coastal communities of the Bay of Fundy, Canada, Environ. Res. (U.S.A), 98 (2005) 14-21.
DOI: 10.1021/es047996o Melissa Legrand, Carlos José Sousa Passos, Donna Mergler, Hing Man Chan,
Biomonitoring of Mercury Exposure with Single Human Hair Strand, Environ. Sci. Technol., 39/12 (2005) 4594-4598.
DOI: 10.1021/es047996o Melissa Legrand, Rebecca Lam, Carlos José Sousa Passos, Donna Mergler, Eric
D. Salin, Hing Man Chan,
Analysis of Mercury in Sequential Micrometer Segments of Single Hair Strands of Fish-Eaters, Environ. Sci. Technol., 41/2 (2007) 593-598.
DOI: 10.1021/es061823c
Related EVISA News (newest first)
March 1, 2012: High levels of mercury in newborns likely from mothers eating contaminated fish
February 9, 2006: Study show high levels of mercury in women related to fish consumptionlast time modified: October 12, 2024
