MERCURY EXPOSURE IN HIGH-SCHOOL CHEMISTRY TEACHERS

To assess whether high school chemistry teachers had higher urinary me rcury concentrations than other high school teachers, 24 high school t eachers from nine schools in northeastern Ohio were studied. First mor ning voided urine samples and air samples from the teachers' classroom s were analyzed for total mercury content by cold vapor atomic absorpt ion. The median adjusted urinary mercury concentration in the 12 chemi stry teachers was 4.6 mu g/g creatinine (range 2.2-8.2 mu g/g creatini ne) and it was 6.3 mu g/g creatinine in the 12 non-chemistry teachers. All classroom air samples contained mercury levels below detection li mits. No evidence was provided that high school chemistry teachers are at increased risk of chronic mercury exposure from their teaching act ivities compared to other high school teachers.