Artisanal gold-mining activities in the Philippines have proliferated since the early 1980s. Presently, environmental and health monitoring conducted by several governmental agencies is limited to the determination of total mercury only. Previous studies undertaken focused mainly on the exposure of adults and workers to mercury during mining/processing operations. However, in one area in Mindan...

Four new methylmercury-selenoamino acid complexes were synthesized, including methylmercury-L-selenoglutathionate, methylmercury-D,L-selenopenicillaminate, and two methylmercury-L-selenomethioninate complexes (one via a Hg-Se bonding and the other Hg-N bonding). All the complexes were characterized by NMR ((1)H, (13)C, (77)Se and (199)Hg), FT-IR and mass spectra. Their molecular structures were...

Tropical tunas are largely consumed worldwide, providing major nutritional benefits to humans, but also representing the main exposure methylmercury, a potent neurotoxin that biomagnifies along food webs. The combination of ecological tracers (nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes, ?15N ?13C) mercury concentrations in is scarce yet crucial better characterize influence tuna foraging ecology on bi...

Exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) from fish and marine mammal consumption continues to present a public health concern. To date, developmental neurotoxicity is the most sensitive health outcome, forming the basis for health-risk assessments and the derivation of biomonitoring guidance values. This article summarizes existing Health Canada MeHg blood guidance values for general population and exp...

Inuit people living in Canada’s Nunavik region consume large doses of methylmercury through their traditional diet, mostly from sea mammal meat. A new study set out looking for evidence of links between these native communities’ exposure to the toxic metal and heart diseases [EHP 118(8):1077–1083; Ayotte et al.]. The results suggested an inhibitory effect of methylmercury on paraoxonase 1 (PON1...

Inuit people living in Canada’s Nunavik region consume large doses of methylmercury through their traditional diet, mostly from sea mammal meat. A new study set out looking for evidence of links between these native communities’ exposure to the toxic metal and heart diseases [EHP 119(8):1077–1083; Ayotte et al.]. The results suggested an inhibitory effect of methylmercury on paraoxonase 1 (PON1...

Epidemiologic studies commonly use mercury (Hg) level in hair as a valid proxy to estimate human exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) through fish consumption. This study presents the results yielded by a complete data set on fish consumption habits, Hg levels in edible fish resources, and corresponding Hg accumulation in hair, gathered in three distinct communities of eastern Canada. For one of th...

A search was made for genes that confer resistance to methylmercury in yeast using a genomic DNA library derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The genomic library was introduced into yeast and transformants that grew in the presence of a normally toxic concentration of methylmercury were selected. We sequenced the genomic DNA fragment in the plasmid from the clone with the highest resistance t...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether neonatal neurologic function is adversely affected by seafood contaminants from maternal diet during pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN One hundred eighty-two singleton term births were evaluated in the Faeroe Islands, where marine food includes pilot whale. Maternal serum, hair, and milk and umbilical cord blood were analyzed for contaminants. Levels of essential fatty ac...

The available data on the influence of selenium on the toxicity of methylmercury and of methylmercury on selenium as a nutrient and toxic agent are reviewed. Selenium as selenite has a relative protective effect on acute and subacute toxicity of methylmercury in the rat and the quail. The protective mechanism is far from clear. Of special interest is the fact that selenium-treated animals may r...