Rose Neil L, Yang Handong, Turner Simon D
Department of Geography, Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
Environ Geochem Health. 2016 Feb;38(1):309-13. doi: 10.1007/s10653-015-9704-1. Epub 2015 Apr 18.
Mercury (Hg) concentrations were measured in 26 Scottish single malt whiskies, and all found to be very low (<10 ng L(-1)), posing no threat to human health through reasonable levels of consumption. However, a significant south-to-north declining gradient in Hg concentrations was observed reflecting that reported for atmospheric deposition. We speculate that this gradient could be due to a combination of contemporary deposition and the legacy of industrial mercury emissions and deposition over the last 200 years affecting concentrations in local waters used in whisky production. As UK atmospheric emissions of mercury have declined by 90 % since the 1970s, we suggest that whisky being produced today should have even lower Hg concentrations when consumed in 10- to 15-years time. This reduction may be compromised by the remobilisation of contaminants stored in catchment soils being transferred to source waters, but is very unlikely to raise the negligible health risk due to Hg from Scottish single malt whisky consumption.
对26种苏格兰单一麦芽威士忌中的汞（Hg）浓度进行了测量，结果发现所有威士忌中的汞浓度都非常低（<10纳克/升），通过合理的消费量不会对人体健康构成威胁。然而，观察到汞浓度存在明显的从南到北的下降梯度，这与大气沉降的情况一致。我们推测，这种梯度可能是由于当代沉降以及过去200年工业汞排放和沉降的遗留影响了威士忌生产中使用的当地水源中的浓度。由于自20世纪70年代以来英国汞的大气排放量已下降了90%，我们认为，10至15年后饮用的当今生产的威士忌汞浓度应该会更低。这种降低可能会因流域土壤中储存的污染物重新迁移到水源而受到影响，但极不可能因饮用苏格兰单一麦芽威士忌中的汞而增加可忽略不计的健康风险。
