US EPA

5021905 

Journal Article 

Mercury Body Burden And Intake In Two Canadian Coastal Communities: Grand Manan And St Andrews/St Stephen 

Legrand, M; Chan, H 

2004 

1 

Toxicologist
ISSN: 0731-9193 

78 

English 

Mercury exposure in two Canadian costal communities, Grand Manan and St Andrews/ St Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada was assessed with hair samples and sources of exposure through dietary methods identified. Mean arithmetic concentration of total mercury in hair was 0.7 +/- 0.55 mg/Kg at Grand Manan and 0.419 +/- 0.15 mg/Kg for St Andrews/St Stephen. All participants incurred daily total mercury ranging from near zero to 0.286 ug/kgbw/day which is below the 0.73 ug/kgbw/day providional tolerable daily intake of Health Canada. The low intakes and body burdens can be explained by the low level of mercury found in the species being consumed and their frequency of consumption. The top contributors to mercury intake included haddock, canned tuna, lobster, pollock and lake trout. The correlation between hair mercury and intake (defined as micrograms of mercury per spring season) yielded a 0.32 correlation coefficient. This supports the view that estimating mercury levels in hair using a focused food frequency questionnaire coupled with the 24 hour recall is a reliable technique. To our knowledge, this is the first reported study examining mercury body burden in human populations living along the Bay of Fundy and the first to report trends of fish and seafood consumption from that area. Mercury body burden and mercury intake show that, even though fish and seafood are consumed on a regular basis, particularly at Grand Manan, mercury intake is not a serious problem because the species being consumed contain low levels of mercury.