Fish consumption and hair mercury levels in women of childbearing age, Martin County, Florida.

The health effects of mercury in humans are mostly on the developing nervous system. Pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding must be targeted in order to decrease mercury exposure to the populations at highest risk-infants, unborn fetuses, and young children. This purpose of this study is to understand the demographics of fish-consumption patterns among women of childbearing age (including pregnant women) in Martin County, Florida, and to analyze the associations of mercury levels in participants' hair with socio-demographic variables in order to better design prevention messages and campaigns. Mercury concentrations in hair samples of 408 women ages 18-49 were assessed. Data on demographic factors, pregnancy status, fish consumption, and awareness of fish advisories were collected during personal interviews. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. The geometric and arithmetic means of hair mercury concentration were 0.371 and 0.676 µg/g of hair. One-fourth of the respondents had a concentration ≥1 µg/g of hair. Consuming a higher number of fish meals per month, consumption of commercially purchased or locally caught fish higher in mercury, White race and income ≥$75,000 were positively associated with the likelihood of having higher hair mercury levels. This study confirms the existence of a higher overall mean hair mercury level and a higher percentage of women with ≥1 µg/g hair mercury level than those reported at the national level and in other regional studies. This suggests the need for region-specific fish consumption advisories to minimize mercury exposure in humans.

Fish consumption patterns and mercury exposure levels among women of childbearing age in Duval County, Florida.

Consumption of fish containing methylmercury can pose serious health concerns including neurotoxic effects in adults and toxicity to the fetuses of mothers exposed during pregnancy. In the study described in this article, the authors examined fish consumption patterns and measured hair mercury levels of women of childbearing age in a coastal county in Florida. Women from the community participated in a risk factor assessment survey (N = 703). Hair samples (n = 698) were collected and analyzed for mercury. The authors identified 74.8% below detection limit; 25.2% had detectable limits of mercury, while 7% exceeded 1 pg/g. Hair mercury levels increased with fish consumption and age. Race, income, and education levels were also associated with increased hair mercury levels. Women of Asian/Pacific Islander origin had the highest levels. Although reported fish consumption exceeded the recommendations for women of childbearing age, the study population had lower mercury levels than other comparative studies in Florida and at national levels.

A study of the efficacy of various home filtration substrates in the removal of microcystin-LR from drinking water.

This study was conducted to determine whether common water filtration and purification systems bought by consumers and used in the home would remove cyanotoxins from water. Commonly used universal filter housings and filter sizes were utilized to identify filter media that may be effective in the removal of microcystin-LR in deionized water. Results suggest that the efficacy of home filtration devices in removing microcystin-LR varies considerably with the type of device being used. Carbon filters successfully removed microcystin-LR allowing only 0.05-0.3% of the toxin load to pass through the filter. On the other hand, pleated paper and string wound filters allowed > 90% of microcystin-LR present in the sample to pass through the filters. Theoretically, the use of carbon home filtration devices tested in this study may provide protection against human exposure to cyanotoxin in addition to protection provided by water treatment methodologies utilized in water treatment facilities. Further studies need to be done to assess the efficacy of home filtration devices for various cyanotoxins and for other filtering conditions such as increased toxin load, the presence of other contaminants in drinking water, and the repetitive use of the same filter over longer time intervals.