Pubblicazione scientifica

Mercury Speciation in Hair of Children in Three Communities of the Amazon, Brazil

FILONE TECNOLOGICO	TEMA
trasformazione e commercializzazione

RIASSUNTO

Children from riverside communities located downstream of gold mining areas may be chronically exposed to relatively high levels of MeHg through the consumption of fish of this region. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare levels of THg and MeHg in hair of children less than 12 years in communities near mines in the municipality of Itaituba and in communities far from prospecting areas in the city of Abaetetuba. The communities of Itaituba (Barreiras and São Luiz do Tapajós) had THg mean levels of 5.64 ± 5.55 μg·g−1 (0.43–27.82) and 11.41 ± 7.16 μg.g−1 (1.08–28.17), respectively, and an average count of MeHg relative to THg of 92.20% and 90.27%, respectively. In the Maranhão community, the THg average concentrations results were 2.27 ± 2.11 μg·g−1 (0.13–9.54) and the average values were 93.17% for MeHg. Children of Itaituba had average levels of mercury above the limit established by the World Health Organization (10 μg·g−1) and the strong correlation coefficient between the communities (R = 0.968 and P = 0.0001) suggests the hair as an excellent biomarker of human exposure to organic mercury in riverside populations of the Tapajós, which has the intake of fish daily as main source of protein dietary.

DATA

Data di pubblicazione: 01/01/2014

AUTORI

MARINHO JAMILE SALIM
LIMA MARCELO OLIVEIRA
SANTOS ELISABETH CONCEICAO DE OLIVEIRA
DE JESUS IRACINA MAURA
PINHEIRO MARIA DA CONCEICAO N
ALVES CLAUDIO NAHUM
MULLER REGINA CELI SARKIS

ENTE DI AFFERENZA

EVANDRO CHAGAS INST
FEDERAL UNIV PARA

RIVISTA

BioMed Research International, 2014, 945963

IMPACT FACTOR

2,140

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