title: Mercury exposures in informal gold miners and relatives in southern Peru.
abstract: Subjects working in or living near informal gold mining and processing in southern Peru were studied to determine mercury exposures from two tasks: amalgamation and amalgam smelting. The authors collected 17 airborne and 41 urinary mercury levels. The mean urinary levels were 728 (range: 321-1662) and 113 (45-197) microg/L for working in smelters and living near smelters, respectively. A third group working in amalgamation had a mean 18 microg/L (range 8-37). People living in the mining town but with no mining activities had 8 microg/L (5-10), while a control group outside the town had 4 microg/L (2-6). Mean airborne mercury exposure was 2423 microg/m3 (range 530-4430) during smelting, 30.5 microg/m3 (12-55) during amalgamation, and 12 microg/m3 (3-23) in the mining town. Smelters are highly contaminated with mercury, as are the people living around smelters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Micdrobiology, Faculty of Sciences and Philosophy, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Av. Honorio Delgado N 430 Lima 31, Apartado Postal 4314, Lima 100, Peru. jehurt@upch.edu.pe
authors.forename: Jasmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hurtado
authors.forename: Gustavo F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Gonzales
authors.forename: Kyle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Steenland
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000652:urine; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D006046:Gold; D006801:Humans; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis* / Q000652:urine; D008906:Mining; D010568:Peru
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D006046:Gold; D008628:Mercury