Mercury is considered a neurotoxin. It is a deadly substance since all organs of the human body are vulnerable to it. Mercury is especially dangerous for women of childbearing age as mercury can affect both the health of the mother and impact on the developing organ systems of the fetus with lifelong consequences.
A pilot study, Mercury Monitoring in Women of Childbearing Age in the Asia Pacific Region, revealed that women of childbearing age living in the Asia Pacific Islands have elevated levels of mercury in their bodies. Minamata Convention Interim Secretariat supported the study which was hosted by UN Environment. The Minamata Convention, Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI), and a global NGO network IPEN, jointly conducted the event.
The purpose of the study was to obtain data on the mercury concentration in the hair of women of childbearing age in some countries of the Asia and the Pacific region. Women of childbearing age are considered part of the vulnerable group at risk from mercury. The findings would then provide a picture of mercury levels in selected areas which could contribute to national information related to mercury concerns.
The study involved collecting and examining hair samples from 234 women from the Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Tajikistan, and Nepal. Results of the study showed that 96 percent of the women sampled from the Pacific Islands contained significantly elevated hair mercury levels, between 2 ppm - 3.7 ppm. The US EPA's maximum tolerable daily mercury intake is 1 ppm, as reported by Physics.Org.
Most of these women from the Pacific Islands have a high consumption of seafood particularly large fish that have high methylmercury concentrations in their flesh. Research show that eating large seawater fish results to the transfer of mercury to humans, elevating mercury levels in the body. On the other hand, the hair samples from Tajikistan, where fish consumption was low, had the least mercury level at an average of .06 ppm. In Nepal, elevated mercury levels were found in women with low fish consumption, but worked using mercury in making religious images, reports Mercury Convention.Org.
The study showed the importance of continuously bio-monitoring mercury pollution. Mercury contamination is present in marine and freshwater systems around the world and people should be made aware that mercury contamination can come from a variety of sources aside from gold mining and coal power plants. Although the study was made only in the Asia-Pacific region, the information gained contributed to the global information regarding mercury concerns.
