Mercury content in the hair of residents of Babushkinsky district, Vologda region, Russia

Abstract

Mercury is a highly toxic metal for all living organisms. Even low doses of the organic form of mercury can cause disruption in some functions of the human body. The content of mercury in the hair of residents (n=71) of Babushkinsky district, Vologda region, Russia was determined. Babushkinsky district is located away from industrial sources of mercury. Mercury concentrations were determined using a mercury analyzer RA-915M. The average mercury content in the hair of residents of Babushkinsky district, Vologda region was 0.398 mg/kg. 8% of the study participants had mercury levels in their hair above 1 mg/kg. There were no differences in the content of mercury in the hair between males (0.540 mg/kg) and females (0.344 mg/kg). The differences were established depending on age: under 30 years old (0.208 mg/kg), over 30 years (0.582 mg/kg). There is also a correlation between mercury in the hair and age. People who eat fish several times a week have twice as much mercury (0.538 mg/kg) as people who eat fish less than once a month (0.262 mg/kg).

Dynamics of the Total Mercury Content in the Hair of Adolescent Residents of the Industrial Center of Northwest Russia (Cherepovets City)

“…Furthermore, it was recorded that in the surroundings of the city in soil, earthworms and organs of small mammals the concentration of mercury is signi cantly lower than in the corresponding components of the ecosystems (1.1 mg/kg of dry weight) of industrial zones in Europe, the USA and China (Komov et al, 2017). The content of mercury in the hair of residents of the city of Cherepovets is lower than the concentration of metal in the hair of residents of settlements (Babushkinsky District and Kirillovsky District, Vologda Region) located 100-380 km from the industrial center (Rumiantseva et al, 2021(Rumiantseva et al, , 2018. The revealed differences in the content of total mercury in the hair of males and females were consistent with the results obtained when comparing the values of the metal concentration between representatives of the male (median 0.222 mg/kg for 10-19 years and 0.241 mg/kg for 20-29 years) and female (median 0.261 mg/kg for 10-19 years and 0.298 mg/kg for 20-29 years) of the Orenburg Region (Skalnaya et al, 2015).…”