MERCURY DETERMINATION IN HAIR OF MALAYSIAN FISHERMEN BY NEUTRON-ACTIVATION ANALYSIS

Fish has been known as a source of nonoccupational mercury exposure to fish-consuming population groups. In this study, hair samples collect ed from fishermen and their families residing in an industrialized are a in Penang and a nonindustrialized area in Terengganu were analyzed f or mercury by neutron activation. The range, arithmetic mean, geometri c mean, and median of the mercury concentrations for the groups in Pen ang and in Terengganu were 0.45-16.68, 3.61, 3.49, and 2.96 and 6.79-1 8.31, 12.08, 11.69, and 12.05 mg/kg, respectively. Somewhat lower valu es than from the Penang group were found in a group from Selangor cons isting mainly of office workers. The group in Penang took about 40-100 g of fish/d, whereas the group in Terengganu consumed twice as much. This shows that hair mercury levels depend on a fish consumption patte rn, and not on the location of the population. The levels of mercury f ound in this study were similar to those reported by other workers for fish-consuming population groups worldwide.