Mercury Exposure in Ireland: Results of the DEMOCOPHES Human Biomonitoring Study

Elizabeth Cullen, David S. Evans, Fred Davidson, Padraig Burke, Damien Burns, Andrew Flanagan, Chris Griffin, Anne Kellegher, Rory Mannion, Maurice Mulcahy, Michael Ryan, Pierre Biot, Ludwine Casteleyn, Argelia Castaño, Jürgen Angerer, Holger M. Koch, Marta Esteban, Birgit K. Schindler, Carmen Navarro, Marike Kolossa-Gehring, Ulrike Fiddicke, Greet Schoeters, Elly Den Hond, Ovnair Sepai, Karen Exley, Louis Bloemen, Lisbeth E. Knudsen, Reinhard Joas, Anke Joas and Dominique Aerts
Additional contact information
Elizabeth Cullen: Department of Community of Health, Health Service Executive, Kildare, Ireland
David S. Evans: Department of Public Health, Health Service Executive, Galway, Ireland
Fred Davidson: Public Analyst's Laboratory Health Service Executive, Cork, Ireland
Padraig Burke: Public Analyst's Laboratory, Health Service Executive, Galway, Ireland
Damien Burns: Project Manager, Health Service Executive, Palmerstown, Dublin 20, Ireland
Andrew Flanagan: Public Analyst's Laboratory, Health Service Executive, Galway, Ireland
Chris Griffin: Public Analyst's Laboratory, Health Service Executive, Dublin 2, Ireland
Anne Kellegher: Environmental Health Service, Health Service Executive, Leitrim, Ireland
Rory Mannion: Public Analyst's Laboratory, Health Service Executive, Galway, Ireland
Maurice Mulcahy: Environmental Health Service, Health Service Executive, Galway, Ireland
Michael Ryan: Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin 4, Ireland
Pierre Biot: Federal Public Service Health, Food chain safety and Environment, Brussels 1060, Belgium
Ludwine Casteleyn: University of Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
Argelia Castaño: Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Environmental Toxicology Centro Nacional de Sanidad Ambiental (CNSA), Majadahonda, Madrid 28220, Spain
Jürgen Angerer: Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (IPA), Bochum 44789, Germany
Holger M. Koch: Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (IPA), Bochum 44789, Germany
Marta Esteban: Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Environmental Toxicology Centro Nacional de Sanidad Ambiental (CNSA), Majadahonda, Madrid 28220, Spain
Birgit K. Schindler: Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (IPA), Bochum 44789, Germany
Carmen Navarro: Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Environmental Toxicology Centro Nacional de Sanidad Ambiental (CNSA), Majadahonda, Madrid 28220, Spain
Marike Kolossa-Gehring: Federal Environment Agency, Berlin 14195, Germany
Ulrike Fiddicke: Federal Environment Agency, Berlin 14195, Germany
Greet Schoeters: Flemish Institute of Technological Research, Environmental Risk and Health Unit, MolB-2400, Belgium
Elly Den Hond: Flemish Institute of Technological Research, Environmental Risk and Health Unit, MolB-2400, Belgium
Ovnair Sepai: Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Public Health England, Chilton OX11 ORQ, Oxfordshire UK
Karen Exley: Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Public Health England, Chilton OX11 ORQ, Oxfordshire UK
Louis Bloemen: Environmental Health Science International, 4561 HV Hulst, The Netherlands
Lisbeth E. Knudsen: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen 1353, Denmark
Reinhard Joas: BiPRO GmbH, Munich 81545, Germany
Anke Joas: BiPRO GmbH, Munich 81545, Germany
Dominique Aerts: Federal Public Service Health, Food chain safety and Environment, Brussels 1060, Belgium

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: Background : Monitoring of human exposure to mercury is important due to its adverse health effects. This study aimed to determine the extent of mercury exposure among mothers and their children in Ireland, and to identify factors associated with elevated levels. It formed part of the Demonstration of a study to Coordinate and Perform Human Biomonitoring on a European Scale (DEMOCOPHES) pilot biomonitoring study. Methods : Hair mercury concentrations were determined from a convenience sample of 120 mother/child pairs. Mothers also completed a questionnaire. Rigorous quality assurance within DEMOCOPHES guaranteed the accuracy and international comparability of results. Results : Mercury was detected in 79.2% of the samples from mothers, and 62.5% of children’s samples. Arithmetic mean levels in mothers (0.262 µg/g hair) and children (0.149 µg /g hair) did not exceed the US EPA guidance value. Levels were significantly higher for those with higher education, and those who consumed more fish. Conclusions : The study demonstrates the benefit of human biomonitoring for assessing and comparing internal exposure levels, both on a population and an individual basis. It enables the potential harmful impact of mercury to be minimised in those highly exposed, and can therefore significantly contribute to population health.

Keywords: mercury; human biomonitoring; hair; exposure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/9/9760/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/9/9760/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:9:p:9760-9775:d:40325

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().