Twenty years of trace metal analyses of marine mammals in Alaska: evaluation and summation.
The compilation of existing data on contaminants in the marine food chain is essential in addressing concerns regarding the magnitude of potential human exposures and in the evaluation of subsistence food safety. This paper presents a summary of studies on trace metals in tissues of Alaska marine mammals from the 1970s to the present, along with derived mean tissue trace metal concentrations. The derived mean can serve as a norm against which future monitoring results may be compared, and may be used to estimate human exposure to trace metals through the consumption of marine mammals. Additionally, the variation among studies in the reported mean tissue concentrations has been described through a derived standard deviation. Sufficient analytical and methodological details were available to derive means and standard deviations for tissues in bearded seal, bowhead whale, beluga whale, fur seal, harbor seal, Pacific walrus, and ringed seal. A high concordance between trace metal values reported in tissues (i.e., liver, kidney, muscle) was observed despite significant differences in reported sampling and analytical methodologies. Consistent with other reviews of trace metal concentrations in marine species, the standard deviation of tissue metal concentrations was generally < or = 100% of the reported mean. Significant gaps in available information remain, particularly for muscle tissues and for methylmercury, despite the considerable efforts to monitor marine mammal species in Alaska.
Ponce
R A
RA
Section of Epidemiology, Alaska Division of Public Health, Anchorage, USA.
Egeland
G M
GM
Middaugh
J P
JP
Becker
P R
PR
D000413:Alaska; D000818:Animals; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D002104:Cadmium / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D020387:Food Chain; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D008386:Marine Biology; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry; D018570:Risk Assessment; D046048:Seals, Earless / Q000378:metabolism; D012643:Selenium / Q000032:analysis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D001503:Ursidae / Q000378:metabolism; D014907:Whales / Q000378:metabolism
D002104:Cadmium; D008628:Mercury; D012643:Selenium; D001151:Arsenic