Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
School of Occupational and Public Health, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada.
Environ Res. 2024 Nov 1;260:119797. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119797. Epub 2024 Aug 13.
The Cree Peoples of the Eeyou Istchee territory (northern Québec, Canada) rely on fish as a part of their traditional and contemporary diet. Fish is a culturally significant food and a source of nutrients, but it is also the main pathway of methylmercury (MeHg) exposure for humans. Significant hydroelectric developments in this territory are responsible for increasing the concentrations of MeHg found in fish and thus increase the human exposure to this neurotoxic compound. As this is an ongoing issue, our study assessed the current MeHg fish-tissue concentrations in Eeyou Istchee and the spatial distribution of MeHg hot spots using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to compare our results to those found in previous studies from the same region. We also performed a probabilistic hazard assessment of the exposure to MeHg from fish consumption. The GIS models indicated significant clustering of increased MeHg fish-tissue concentrations around hydroelectric reservoirs and showed higher MeHg fish-tissue concentrations around newer hydroelectric reservoirs, but a decrease in older reservoirs. Similar to past studies, we found that fish consumption continues to pose an MeHg exposure hazard for men who consume large piscivore species (i.e., lake trout, walleye, and pike), while for women, lake trout and walleye consumption constitute a hazard (any size), and pike should be consumed with caution. The hazard of exposure was mainly associated with intake rate in all cases. Lastly, we recommend monitoring MeHg fish-tissue concentrations in this region, as the MeHg tissue concentrations remain elevated, and updated consumption guidelines where and when necessitated.
伊休蒂地区克里族（加拿大魁北克省北部）依靠鱼类作为其传统和现代饮食的一部分。鱼类是一种具有文化意义的食物和营养来源，但也是人类甲基汞（MeHg）暴露的主要途径。该地区的重大水电开发导致鱼类中 MeHg 浓度增加，从而增加了人类对这种神经毒性化合物的暴露。由于这是一个持续存在的问题，我们的研究评估了伊休蒂地区目前的 MeHg 鱼肉组织浓度，并使用地理信息系统 (GIS) 比较我们的结果与来自同一地区的先前研究的结果，来评估 MeHg 热点的空间分布。我们还对鱼类消费中 MeHg 的暴露风险进行了概率危害评估。GIS 模型表明，在水电站水库周围存在 MeHg 鱼肉组织浓度的显著聚类，并且在较新的水电站水库周围显示出更高的 MeHg 鱼肉组织浓度，但在较旧的水库周围则降低。与过去的研究相似，我们发现鱼类消费继续对食用大型掠食性鱼类（如湖鳟、大眼鲷和梭鱼）的男性构成 MeHg 暴露危害，而对于女性，湖鳟和大眼鲷的消费构成危害（任何大小），而应谨慎食用梭鱼。在所有情况下，暴露的危害主要与摄入率有关。最后，我们建议监测该地区的 MeHg 鱼肉组织浓度，因为 MeHg 组织浓度仍然很高，并且在必要时更新消费指南。
