Environmental and Occupational Exposures to Mercury Among Indigenous People in Dunkwa-On-Offin, a Small Scale Gold Mining Area in The South-West of Ghana
Environmental and Occupational Exposures to Mercury Among Indigenous People in Dunkwa-On-Offin, a Small Scale Gold Mining Area in The South-West of Ghana
复制标题
DOI：
10.1007/s00128-010-0141-7
复制
发表时间：
2010-11-01
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Nriagu, J. O.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kwaansa-Ansah, E. E.;Basu, N.;Nriagu, J. O.
为了确定加纳中西部地区小型金矿区Dunkwa-On-Offin的环境和职业汞暴露程度，对人发和尿样中的总汞浓度进行了测定。总共收集了94份头发和尿样，其中包括40名小规模矿工和54名农民，并使用冷蒸气原子吸收光谱分析了他们的总汞水平。头发总汞浓度范围为0.63~7.19微克/克，农民平均为2.35+/-A 1.58微克/克，小规模黄金矿工为0.57~6.07微克/克，平均为2.14+/-微克/克。总汞浓度与平均每周鱼类摄食量之间没有显著相关性。矿工尿汞浓度为0.075~2.31ug/L，平均值为0.69+/-A0.39ug/L。
Total mercury concentrations in human hair and urine samples were determined to ascertain the extent of environmental and occupational mercury exposure in Dunkwa-On-Offin, a small scale gold mining area of the central-west region of Ghana. In all ninety-four (94) hair and urine samples comprising of forty (40) small scale miners and fifty-four (54) farmers were collected and analyzed for their total mercury levels using the cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry. The hair total mercury concentrations ranged from 0.63 to 7.19 ug/g with a mean of 2.35 +/- A 1.58 ug/g for the farmers and 0.57-6.07 ug/g with a mean of 2.14 +/- A 1.53 ug/g for the small scale gold miners. There was no significant correlation between the total mercury concentration and the average weekly fish diet. The total mercury concentrations in urine of the miners were higher than those of the farmers and ranged from 0.32 to 3.62 ug/L with a mean of 1.23 +/- A 0.86 ug/L. The urine concentrations of farmers ranged from 0.075 to 2.31 ug/L with a mean of 0.69 +/- A 0.39 ug/L. Although the results indicate elevated internal dose of mercury the current levels of exposures do not appear to pose a significant health threat to the people.