MERCURY EXPOSURE IN FRENCH-GUIANA - LEVELS AND DETERMINANTS

Mercury is used widely for gold extraction in French Guiana and throug hout the entire Amazon basin. To evaluate contamination among the gene ral population, the authors chose individuals who attended 13 health c enters and maternity hospitals dispersed geographically across the ter ritory and served Guiana's different populations. Five hundred individ uals (109 pregnant women, 255 ''other'' adults, and 136 children) who received care at one of the centers were selected randomly for this st udy. Each individual answered a questionnaire and provided a hair samp le. The authors determined mercury in hair with atomic absorption spec trometry. The following mean levels of mercury were observed: 1.6 mu g /g (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.3, 1.9) among pregnant women; 3.4 mu g/g (95% CI = 3.0, 3.9) among other adults; and 2.5 mu g/g (95 % C I = 2.1, 3.0) among children. Diet factors contributed the most to mer cury levels, especially consumption of freshwater fish (mean = 6.7 mu g/g for individuals who ate fish more than 5 times/wk) and livers from game. Other factors, including age, dental amalgams, use of skin-ligh tening cosmetics, and residence near a gold-mining community, did not contribute significantly to mercury levels. Overall, 12% of the sample s contained mercury levels in excess of 10 mu g/g, but in some Amerind ian communities up to 79% of the children had hair mercury levels that exceeded 10 mu g/g. The results of this study indicated that (a) diet played a predominant role in total mercury burden, and (b) in some co mmunities, mercury contamination exceeded safe levels.