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Mercury Contamination: A Growing Threat to Riverine and Urban Communities in the Brazilian Amazon

In recent decades, widespread and uncontrolled use of mercury (Hg) in artisanal small-scale gold mining has released thousands of tons of mercury-contaminated waste in the Amazon biome, endangering the largest tropical rainforest worldwide. In this study, we assessed and compared blood Hg levels in...

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Autores principales: Meneses, Heloisa do Nascimento de Moura, Oliveira-da-Costa, Marcelo, Basta, Paulo Cesar, Morais, Cristiano Gonçalves, Pereira, Romulo Jorge Batista, de Souza, Suelen Maria Santos, Hacon, Sandra de Souza
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8910171/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35270508
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052816
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author Meneses, Heloisa do Nascimento de Moura
Oliveira-da-Costa, Marcelo
Basta, Paulo Cesar
Morais, Cristiano Gonçalves
Pereira, Romulo Jorge Batista
de Souza, Suelen Maria Santos
Hacon, Sandra de Souza
author_facet Meneses, Heloisa do Nascimento de Moura
Oliveira-da-Costa, Marcelo
Basta, Paulo Cesar
Morais, Cristiano Gonçalves
Pereira, Romulo Jorge Batista
de Souza, Suelen Maria Santos
Hacon, Sandra de Souza
author_sort Meneses, Heloisa do Nascimento de Moura
collection PubMed
description In recent decades, widespread and uncontrolled use of mercury (Hg) in artisanal small-scale gold mining has released thousands of tons of mercury-contaminated waste in the Amazon biome, endangering the largest tropical rainforest worldwide. In this study, we assessed and compared blood Hg levels in individuals living in urban and riverine areas in the lower Tapajós basin and examined the association between Hg exposure and specific biochemical parameters. In total, 462 adults from eight riverine communities and one urban area were assessed. Overall, 75.6% of the participants exhibited Hg concentrations exceeding the safe limit (10 µg/L). Hg exposure was higher in the riverine population (90%) than in urban areas (57.1%). Mean Hg levels were 21.8 ± 30.9 µg/L and 50.6 µg/L in urban and riverine residents, respectively. The mean Hg level was higher in those aged 41–60 years in both urban and riparian areas, with riparian residents exhibiting a mean double that of urban residents. The highest glucose and hepatic biomarker levels were detected in the urban area, whereas the highest levels of renal biomarker occurred in the riverine population. Our results indicate that Hg contamination remains a persistent challenge for the urban population of Santarém, a major city in the Brazilian Amazon.
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spelling pubmed-89101712022-03-11 Mercury Contamination: A Growing Threat to Riverine and Urban Communities in the Brazilian Amazon Meneses, Heloisa do Nascimento de Moura Oliveira-da-Costa, Marcelo Basta, Paulo Cesar Morais, Cristiano Gonçalves Pereira, Romulo Jorge Batista de Souza, Suelen Maria Santos Hacon, Sandra de Souza Int J Environ Res Public Health Article In recent decades, widespread and uncontrolled use of mercury (Hg) in artisanal small-scale gold mining has released thousands of tons of mercury-contaminated waste in the Amazon biome, endangering the largest tropical rainforest worldwide. In this study, we assessed and compared blood Hg levels in individuals living in urban and riverine areas in the lower Tapajós basin and examined the association between Hg exposure and specific biochemical parameters. In total, 462 adults from eight riverine communities and one urban area were assessed. Overall, 75.6% of the participants exhibited Hg concentrations exceeding the safe limit (10 µg/L). Hg exposure was higher in the riverine population (90%) than in urban areas (57.1%). Mean Hg levels were 21.8 ± 30.9 µg/L and 50.6 µg/L in urban and riverine residents, respectively. The mean Hg level was higher in those aged 41–60 years in both urban and riparian areas, with riparian residents exhibiting a mean double that of urban residents. The highest glucose and hepatic biomarker levels were detected in the urban area, whereas the highest levels of renal biomarker occurred in the riverine population. Our results indicate that Hg contamination remains a persistent challenge for the urban population of Santarém, a major city in the Brazilian Amazon. MDPI 2022-02-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8910171/ /pubmed/35270508 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052816 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Meneses, Heloisa do Nascimento de Moura
Oliveira-da-Costa, Marcelo
Basta, Paulo Cesar
Morais, Cristiano Gonçalves
Pereira, Romulo Jorge Batista
de Souza, Suelen Maria Santos
Hacon, Sandra de Souza
Mercury Contamination: A Growing Threat to Riverine and Urban Communities in the Brazilian Amazon
title Mercury Contamination: A Growing Threat to Riverine and Urban Communities in the Brazilian Amazon
title_full Mercury Contamination: A Growing Threat to Riverine and Urban Communities in the Brazilian Amazon
title_fullStr Mercury Contamination: A Growing Threat to Riverine and Urban Communities in the Brazilian Amazon
title_full_unstemmed Mercury Contamination: A Growing Threat to Riverine and Urban Communities in the Brazilian Amazon
title_short Mercury Contamination: A Growing Threat to Riverine and Urban Communities in the Brazilian Amazon
title_sort mercury contamination: a growing threat to riverine and urban communities in the brazilian amazon
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8910171/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35270508
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052816
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