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Mercury Exposure Assessment and Spatial Distribution in A Ghanaian Small-Scale Gold Mining Community
Mercury is utilized worldwide in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) and may pose a risk for miners and mining communities. While a number of studies have characterized mercury in ASGM communities, most have focused on a single media and few have taken a holistic approach. Here, a multiple...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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MDPI
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586641/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26340636 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120910755 |
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author | Rajaee, Mozhgon Long, Rachel N. Renne, Elisha P. Basu, Niladri |
author_facet | Rajaee, Mozhgon Long, Rachel N. Renne, Elisha P. Basu, Niladri |
author_sort | Rajaee, Mozhgon |
collection | PubMed |
description | Mercury is utilized worldwide in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) and may pose a risk for miners and mining communities. While a number of studies have characterized mercury in ASGM communities, most have focused on a single media and few have taken a holistic approach. Here, a multiple media exposure assessment and cross-sectional study of mercury was conducted in 2010 through 2012 in northeast Ghana with a small-scale gold mining community, Kejetia, a subsistence farming community, Gorogo, and an urban ASGM gold refinery in Bolgatanga. The objective was to assess mercury in a range of human (urine and hair) and ecological (household soil, sediment, fish, and ore) samples to increase understanding of mercury exposure pathways. All participants were interviewed on demographics, occupational and medical histories, and household characteristics. Participants included 90 women of childbearing age and 97 adults from Kejetia and 75 adults from Gorogo. Median total specific gravity-adjusted urinary, hair, and household soil mercury were significantly higher in Kejetia miners (5.18 µg/L, 0.967 µg/g, and 3.77 µg/g, respectively) than Kejetia non-miners (1.18 µg/L, 0.419 µg/g, and 2.00 µg/g, respectively) and Gorogo participants (0.154 µg/L, 0.181 µg/g, and 0.039 µg/g) in 2011. Sediment, fish, and ore Hg concentrations were below guideline values. Median soil mercury from the Bolgatanga refinery was very high (54.6 µg/g). Estimated mean mercury ingestion for Kejetia adults from soil and dust exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reference dose (0.3 µg Hg/kg·day) for pica (0.409 µg Hg/kg·day) and geophagy (20.5 µg Hg/kg·day) scenarios. Most participants with elevated urinary and household soil mercury were miners, but some non-miners approached and exceeded guideline values, suggesting a health risk for non-mining residents living within these communities. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4586641 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-45866412015-10-06 Mercury Exposure Assessment and Spatial Distribution in A Ghanaian Small-Scale Gold Mining Community Rajaee, Mozhgon Long, Rachel N. Renne, Elisha P. Basu, Niladri Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Mercury is utilized worldwide in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) and may pose a risk for miners and mining communities. While a number of studies have characterized mercury in ASGM communities, most have focused on a single media and few have taken a holistic approach. Here, a multiple media exposure assessment and cross-sectional study of mercury was conducted in 2010 through 2012 in northeast Ghana with a small-scale gold mining community, Kejetia, a subsistence farming community, Gorogo, and an urban ASGM gold refinery in Bolgatanga. The objective was to assess mercury in a range of human (urine and hair) and ecological (household soil, sediment, fish, and ore) samples to increase understanding of mercury exposure pathways. All participants were interviewed on demographics, occupational and medical histories, and household characteristics. Participants included 90 women of childbearing age and 97 adults from Kejetia and 75 adults from Gorogo. Median total specific gravity-adjusted urinary, hair, and household soil mercury were significantly higher in Kejetia miners (5.18 µg/L, 0.967 µg/g, and 3.77 µg/g, respectively) than Kejetia non-miners (1.18 µg/L, 0.419 µg/g, and 2.00 µg/g, respectively) and Gorogo participants (0.154 µg/L, 0.181 µg/g, and 0.039 µg/g) in 2011. Sediment, fish, and ore Hg concentrations were below guideline values. Median soil mercury from the Bolgatanga refinery was very high (54.6 µg/g). Estimated mean mercury ingestion for Kejetia adults from soil and dust exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reference dose (0.3 µg Hg/kg·day) for pica (0.409 µg Hg/kg·day) and geophagy (20.5 µg Hg/kg·day) scenarios. Most participants with elevated urinary and household soil mercury were miners, but some non-miners approached and exceeded guideline values, suggesting a health risk for non-mining residents living within these communities. MDPI 2015-09-01 2015-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4586641/ /pubmed/26340636 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120910755 Text en © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Rajaee, Mozhgon Long, Rachel N. Renne, Elisha P. Basu, Niladri Mercury Exposure Assessment and Spatial Distribution in A Ghanaian Small-Scale Gold Mining Community |
title | Mercury Exposure Assessment and Spatial Distribution in A Ghanaian Small-Scale Gold Mining Community |
title_full | Mercury Exposure Assessment and Spatial Distribution in A Ghanaian Small-Scale Gold Mining Community |
title_fullStr | Mercury Exposure Assessment and Spatial Distribution in A Ghanaian Small-Scale Gold Mining Community |
title_full_unstemmed | Mercury Exposure Assessment and Spatial Distribution in A Ghanaian Small-Scale Gold Mining Community |
title_short | Mercury Exposure Assessment and Spatial Distribution in A Ghanaian Small-Scale Gold Mining Community |
title_sort | mercury exposure assessment and spatial distribution in a ghanaian small-scale gold mining community |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586641/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26340636 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120910755 |
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