Mercury contamination in fish from gold mining areas in Indonesia and human health risk assessment

Castilhos, Zuleica Carmen; Rodrigues-Filho, Saulo; Rodrigues, Ana Paula; Villas-Bôas, Roberto; Siegel, Shefa; Veiga, Marcello M.; Beinhoff, Christian

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.01.039

Cited by 145 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…According to environmental studies, many possible pathways to uptake mercury exist for miners and inhabitants, e.g., drinking water, from the soil through eating vegetables and consuming fish [28][29][30]. However, the toxic mercury vapor from smelting the amalgam seems to be the most dangerous pathway of exposure, since the amalgam smelters in particular have shown extreme high levels of mercury in their specimens.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

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“…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

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“…Allthough Hg mining has been officially banned by local authorities in the province, some people continue to work illegally in the mercury (Hg) mine. These Hg mine workers are at a high risk of exposure to elemental mercury (Hg 0 ) vapor, particularly those engaged in smelting among the miners (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). Moreover, such Hg mining operations is one of the primary source of environmental Hg pollution (2,4).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High exposure of Chinese mercury mine workers to elemental mercury vapor and increased methylmercury levels in their hair

Sakamoto

Feng

et al. 2007

Environ Health Prev Med

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Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the level of exposure of mercury (Hg) miners and smelter workers to elemental mercury (Hg 0 ) vapor in China, who work in Hg mines without using protective equipment against Hg 0 vapor. In addition, the level of methylmercury (MeHg) intake by the workers was estimated from the MeHg concentration in their hair.Methods: Urinary total mercury (THg) and hair THg and MeHg concentrations were measured in 26 Hg miners and smelter workers (i.e., exposed group), and 48 unexposed people (unexposed group).Results: The exposed group showed high geometric mean THg concentrations in urine (258 ng/ml, 226 μg/g creatinine) and hair (20.0 μg/g). The urinary THg concentration of the smelter workers in particular was extremely high (338 μg/g creatinine in urine). The highest urine THg concentration reached 4577 μg/g creatinine. THg concentrations in urine and hair showed a significant correlation in the exposed group (r=0.62), indicating the adhesion of Hg 0 vapor to hair. However, no such significant correlation was found in the unexposed group. Hair MeHg concentration in the exposed group (1.97 μg/g) was about threefold higher than that in the unexposed group (0.60 μg/g).Conclusions: This study shows that smelter workers in a Chinese Hg mine are exposed to extremely high levels of Hg 0 vapor, and that Hg miners are exposed to higher levels of MeHg than the unexposed subjects. Further study is needed to determine the cause of the higher hair MeHg concentration in the exposed group.

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Mercury contamination in fish from gold mining areas in Indonesia and human health risk assessment

Cited by 145 publications

References 5 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

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

High exposure of Chinese mercury mine workers to elemental mercury vapor and increased methylmercury levels in their hair

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