Boischio A A, Cernichiari E, Henshel D
Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, BA, 44031- 460, Brasil.
Cad Saude Publica. 2000 Jul-Sep;16(3):681-6. doi: 10.1590/s0102-311x2000000300016.
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.
亚马逊生态系统中水生食物链的汞污染（甲基汞）一直是环境卫生领域的主要关注点。马德拉河上游的河畔居民（ribeirinhos）是鱼类的重度食用者。头发是甲基汞暴露的最佳生物标志物。通过假设头发的生长速度恒定，可以评估近期特定时间段内汞暴露的时间概况。在本文中，我们展示了来自一个家庭的分段头发总汞浓度，在接受调查的10人中，有部分人的头发汞浓度较高（峰值为339 ppm）。我们还展示了接受调查的10名家庭成员中4人的头发甲基汞含量。这些个体大多共同用餐，他们的头发总汞浓度差异很大（8至339 ppm）；同一个体在不同时间的总汞浓度也有很大差异（136至274 ppm）。汞形态分析显示，甲基汞含量的平均值和标准差分别为62%和6%。头发总汞浓度的巨大差异有力地表明，通过发布鱼类食用建议有可能降低关键的汞暴露水平。
