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Regionally representative hair mercury levels in Canadian First Nations adults living on reserves

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this participatory study was to assess the current body burden of mercury among First Nations adults. METHODS: The First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study (2008–2018) collected regionally representative data from First Nations adults living on reserves...

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Autores principales: Tikhonov, Constantine, Schwartz, Harold, Marushka, Lesya, Chan, Hing Man, Batal, Malek, Sadik, Tonio, Ing, Amy, Fediuk, Karen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8239105/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34181227
http://dx.doi.org/10.17269/s41997-021-00508-5
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author Tikhonov, Constantine
Schwartz, Harold
Marushka, Lesya
Chan, Hing Man
Batal, Malek
Sadik, Tonio
Ing, Amy
Fediuk, Karen
author_facet Tikhonov, Constantine
Schwartz, Harold
Marushka, Lesya
Chan, Hing Man
Batal, Malek
Sadik, Tonio
Ing, Amy
Fediuk, Karen
author_sort Tikhonov, Constantine
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this participatory study was to assess the current body burden of mercury among First Nations adults. METHODS: The First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study (2008–2018) collected regionally representative data from First Nations adults living on reserves south of the 60(th) parallel. Mercury was analyzed in hair as a preferred biomarker for prolonged exposure. Hair samples, a 5 mm bundle cut from the occipital region, were collected from the participants who gave consent and measured for total mercury concentrations using cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrophotometry. RESULTS: In total, 3404 First Nations adults living in 92 communities provided hair samples. This represents 52.5% of the respondents to the household surveys. The mean hair mercury concentrations were 0.56 μg/g among all participants and 0.34 μg/g among women of childbearing age (WCBA). There were 64 exceedances of Health Canada’s mercury biomonitoring guidelines (44 WCBA, 8 women aged 51+ years, 3 men aged 19–50 years, and 9 men aged 51+ years). CONCLUSION: Current mercury exposure no longer presents a significant clinical health risk in most of the First Nations population south of the 60(th) parallel across Canada. However, mercury exposure continues to be an ongoing environmental public health concern that requires continued monitoring and assessment. Women of childbearing age (19–50 years) and older individuals living in northern ecozones and Quebec have higher mercury exposures, often exceeding Health Canada’s guidelines. Careful risk communication and risk management programs need to focus on northern ecozones and Quebec.
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spelling pubmed-82391052021-07-13 Regionally representative hair mercury levels in Canadian First Nations adults living on reserves Tikhonov, Constantine Schwartz, Harold Marushka, Lesya Chan, Hing Man Batal, Malek Sadik, Tonio Ing, Amy Fediuk, Karen Can J Public Health Special Issue on First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study: Mixed Research OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this participatory study was to assess the current body burden of mercury among First Nations adults. METHODS: The First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study (2008–2018) collected regionally representative data from First Nations adults living on reserves south of the 60(th) parallel. Mercury was analyzed in hair as a preferred biomarker for prolonged exposure. Hair samples, a 5 mm bundle cut from the occipital region, were collected from the participants who gave consent and measured for total mercury concentrations using cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrophotometry. RESULTS: In total, 3404 First Nations adults living in 92 communities provided hair samples. This represents 52.5% of the respondents to the household surveys. The mean hair mercury concentrations were 0.56 μg/g among all participants and 0.34 μg/g among women of childbearing age (WCBA). There were 64 exceedances of Health Canada’s mercury biomonitoring guidelines (44 WCBA, 8 women aged 51+ years, 3 men aged 19–50 years, and 9 men aged 51+ years). CONCLUSION: Current mercury exposure no longer presents a significant clinical health risk in most of the First Nations population south of the 60(th) parallel across Canada. However, mercury exposure continues to be an ongoing environmental public health concern that requires continued monitoring and assessment. Women of childbearing age (19–50 years) and older individuals living in northern ecozones and Quebec have higher mercury exposures, often exceeding Health Canada’s guidelines. Careful risk communication and risk management programs need to focus on northern ecozones and Quebec. Springer International Publishing 2021-06-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8239105/ /pubmed/34181227 http://dx.doi.org/10.17269/s41997-021-00508-5 Text en © Crown 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Special Issue on First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study: Mixed Research
Tikhonov, Constantine
Schwartz, Harold
Marushka, Lesya
Chan, Hing Man
Batal, Malek
Sadik, Tonio
Ing, Amy
Fediuk, Karen
Regionally representative hair mercury levels in Canadian First Nations adults living on reserves
title Regionally representative hair mercury levels in Canadian First Nations adults living on reserves
title_full Regionally representative hair mercury levels in Canadian First Nations adults living on reserves
title_fullStr Regionally representative hair mercury levels in Canadian First Nations adults living on reserves
title_full_unstemmed Regionally representative hair mercury levels in Canadian First Nations adults living on reserves
title_short Regionally representative hair mercury levels in Canadian First Nations adults living on reserves
title_sort regionally representative hair mercury levels in canadian first nations adults living on reserves
topic Special Issue on First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study: Mixed Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8239105/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34181227
http://dx.doi.org/10.17269/s41997-021-00508-5
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