title: Mercury contamination in fish and human hair from Hainan Island, South China Sea: Implication for human exposure.
abstract: Hair has long been recognized as a good biomarker for human exposure to Hg. The mercury concentrations in 14 species of marine fish and hair samples from 177 coastal residents in Hainan, South China Sea were investigated to assess the status of mercury exposure associated with marine fish consumption. Concentrations of total Hg (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in the fish muscles were 0.094 ± 0.008 and 0.066 ± 0.006 μg/gww, respectively, which were far below the limit considered safe for consumption (0.5 μg/g). The average THg concentrations in hair of adults (1.02 ± 0.92 μg/g) were lower than the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) level of 2.2 μg/g. However, 23.7% of children had a hair THg level exceeding the RfD level of 1μg/g, indicating a great risk of Hg exposure to children via fish consumption. The concentration of THg in hair was significantly correlated with fish consumption but not with gender-specific fish intake. With higher fish consumption frequency, the fishermen had significantly elevated hair Hg levels compared to the students and the other general public, who had similar hair THg levels but different fish consumption patterns, indicating the existence of other sources of Hg exposure to the residents of Hainan Island.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Ling
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China. Electronic address: xuxr@scsio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xiang-Rong
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
authors.forename: Shen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Hefa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Jia-Xi
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Guo
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, China.
authors.forename: Xin-Bin
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D062312:Islands; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Dietary exposure; Fish consumption; Human hair; Mercury pollution; South China Sea