title: Mercury levels in pregnant women, children, and seafood from Mexico City.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mercury is a global contaminant of concern though little is known about exposures in México.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To characterize mercury levels in pregnant women, children, and commonly consumed seafood samples.
  
  
  METHODS
  Use resources of the Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants (ELEMENT) birth cohorts to measure total mercury levels in archived samples from 348 pregnant women (blood from three trimesters and cord blood), 825 offspring (blood, hair, and urine) and their mothers (hair), and 91 seafood and canned tuna samples from Mexico City.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Maternal blood mercury levels correlated across three trimesters and averaged 3.4 μg/L. Cord blood mercury averaged 4.7 μg/L and correlated with maternal blood from trimester 3 (but not trimesters 1 and 2). In children, blood, hair and urine mercury levels correlated and averaged 1.8 μg/L, 0.6 μg/g, and 0.9 μg/L, respectively. Hair mercury was 0.5 μg/g in mothers and correlated with child's hair. Mean consumption of canned tuna, fresh fish, canned sardine, and shellfish was 3.1, 2.2, 0.5, and 1.0 times per month respectively in pregnant women. Mean mercury content in 7 of 23 seafood species and 5 of 9 canned tuna brands purchased exceeded the U.S. EPA guidance value of 0.3 μg/g.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mercury exposures in pregnant women and children from Mexico City, via biomarker studies, are generally 3-5 times greater than values reported in population surveys from the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere. In particular, mercury levels in 29-39% of the maternal participants exceeded the biomonitoring guideline associated with the U.S. EPA reference dose for mercury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H9X 2T9. Electronic address: Niladri.basu@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Niladri
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tutino
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Zhenzhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Brigham & Women׳s Hospital, Harvard School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Cantonwine
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Jaclyn M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Goodrich
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Emily C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Somers
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.affiliation: Division of Public Health, National Institute of Perinatology, Mexico, D.F., Mexico.
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schnaas
authors.affiliation: Division of Statistics, Center for Evaluation Research and Surveys, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
authors.forename: Maritsa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Solano
authors.affiliation: Division of Statistics, Center for Evaluation Research and Surveys, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mercado
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Brisa N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Health, Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico.
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hernández-Avila
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Division of Statistics, Center for Evaluation Research and Surveys, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maria Téllez-Rojo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002947:Cities; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000737:chemistry; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D012031:Refractometry; D017747:Seafood / Q000032:analysis*; D014413:Tuna / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Biomarkers; Children; Exposure assessment; Mercury; Pregnant women