Department of Global Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.
Academic Hospital Paramaribo, Scientific Research Center Suriname, Paramaribo, Suriname.
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2021 Feb;31(1):117-125. doi: 10.1038/s41370-020-0233-3. Epub 2020 May 28.
Previous research has found that women and children living in rural, interior communities in Suriname have high concentrations of mercury in hair. Freshwater fish from these areas also have high concentrations of mercury. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining operations in parts of the country use elemental mercury to extract gold from soils and sediments. Total mercury and methylmercury concentrations have been determined in hair and blood from pregnant women across the country. Pregnant women from interior communities have significantly higher concentrations of both total and methylmercury in hair (median total mercury in hair 3.64 µg/g) compared with pregnant women from two urban coastal cities, Paramaribo (0.63 µg/g) and Nickerie (0.74 µg/g). Total and methylmercury concentrations in blood and hair are highly correlated (r = 0.986, r = 0.974) with methylmercury making up 86% of the total in blood and 97% of the total in hair. Most women in the interior regions rely heavily on local fish as part of their regular diet, and many live outsides of areas with active ASGM operations. This study demonstrates that diet and fish consumption largely govern mercury exposures in pregnant women in Suriname.
先前的研究发现，居住在苏里南农村内陆社区的妇女和儿童的头发中汞含量很高。来自这些地区的淡水鱼也含有高浓度的汞。该国部分地区的个体和小规模金矿开采作业使用元素汞从土壤和沉积物中提取黄金。已在全国孕妇的头发和血液中确定了总汞和甲基汞的浓度。与来自两个沿海城市帕拉马里博（0.63μg/g）和尼克里（0.74μg/g）的孕妇相比，内陆社区的孕妇头发中的总汞和甲基汞浓度明显更高（头发中总汞的中位数为 3.64μg/g）。血液和头发中的总汞和甲基汞浓度高度相关（r=0.986，r=0.974），甲基汞占血液总汞的 86%，占头发总汞的 97%。内陆地区的大多数妇女严重依赖当地鱼类作为其日常饮食的一部分，而且许多人居住在活跃的 ASGM 作业区之外。本研究表明，饮食和鱼类消费在很大程度上决定了苏里南孕妇的汞暴露。
