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Segmental hair mercury evaluation of a single family along the upper Madeira basin, Brazilian Amazon
Mercury pollution (MeHg) up the aquatic food chains in the Amazonian ecosystems has been a major concern in environmental health. Riverside people (ribeirinhos) along the Upper Madeira river are heavy fish eaters. Hair is the best biomarker for MeHg exposure. By assuming a constant hair growth rate,...
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Published in: | Cadernos de saúde pública 2000-09, Vol.16 (3), p.681-686 |
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Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Mercury pollution (MeHg) up the aquatic food chains in the Amazonian ecosystems has been a major concern in environmental health. Riverside people (ribeirinhos) along the Upper Madeira river are heavy fish eaters. Hair is the best biomarker for MeHg exposure. By assuming a constant hair growth rate, it is possible to evaluate a temporal profile of Hg exposure over the recent defined past. In this paper we present the segmental total hair Hg concentrations from a single family from which some of the 10 persons investigated had high hair Hg concentrations (peak of 339 ppm). We also presented the hair MeHg content from 4 out of the 10 family members investigated. There was a wide variation in total hair Hg concentrations (8 to 339 ppm) among these individuals, who were mostly sharing their meals; there was also a wide variation in total Hg concentrations in the same individual over time (136 to 274 ppm). Hg speciation showed a mean and standard deviation in the MeHg content of 62% and 6%, respectively. The wide variation in total hair Hg concentration strongly indicated that it is possible to mitigate critical Hg exposure levels by conducting a fish advisory. |
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ISSN: | 0102-311X 1678-4464 0102-311X 1678-4464 |
DOI: | 10.1590/S0102-311X2000000300016 |