van Straaten P
Department of Land Resource Science, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Sci Total Environ. 2000 Oct 2;259(1-3):45-53. doi: 10.1016/s0048-9697(00)00548-9.
In northern Tanzania large numbers of small scale miners use mercury in the gold extraction process causing contamination of the environment and risks to human health. Human exposure to Hg was assessed in populations in and around small scale gold mining camps by means of human hair and urine surveys. We also determined Hg concentration in fish in aquatic bodies close to these camps. Urinary Hg testing in three communities showed that 36% of the gold miners working with amalgam exceeded the WHO guideline concentration of 50 microg Hg/g creatinine. Data from a hair survey of fishermen and farmers confirm that at present, the fish-eating population close to the southern tip of Lake Victoria is at low risk with regard to Hg exposure. Concentrations in fish were low and > 90% of the hair samples from the fish-eating population were below 2 microg/g T-Hg. Highest Hg concentrations in fish caught along the southern shores of Lake Victoria and in rivers draining from gold processing sites were detected in lungfish species (Protopterus aethiopicus), and lowest Hg concentrations in tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus and Tilapia zilii).
在坦桑尼亚北部，大量小规模矿工在黄金开采过程中使用汞，导致环境污染和人类健康风险。通过对头发和尿液进行检测，评估了小规模金矿营地及其周边人群的汞暴露情况。我们还测定了这些营地附近水体中鱼类的汞浓度。对三个社区的尿液汞检测表明，使用汞合金的金矿工人中有36%超过了世界卫生组织规定的50微克汞/克肌酐的指导浓度。对渔民和农民的头发检测数据证实，目前维多利亚湖南端附近以鱼为食的人群汞暴露风险较低。鱼类中的汞浓度较低，以鱼为食人群超过90%的头发样本中总汞含量低于2微克/克。在维多利亚湖南岸以及从黄金加工场地流出的河流中捕获的鱼类中，肺鱼（非洲肺鱼）的汞浓度最高，罗非鱼（尼罗罗非鱼和齐氏罗非鱼）的汞浓度最低。
