Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Environmental Health Perspectives logoLink to Environmental Health Perspectives
. 1994 Jun-Jul;102(6-7):548–550. doi: 10.1289/ehp.94102548

Mercury in the Umbilical Cord: Implications for Risk Assessment for Minamata Disease.

C Dalgard 1, P Grandjean 1, PJ Jorgensen 1, P Weihe 1
PMCID: PMC1569759  PMID: 9679113

Abstract

Umbilical cord tissue was obtained from 50 births in the Faroe Islands, where high mercury intake is due to ingestion of pilot whale meat. The mercury concentration correlated significantly with the frequency of maternal whale meat dinners during pregnancy and with mercury concentrations in umbilical cord blood and in maternal hair. The results were compared with published values for mercury in umbilical cord tissue from 12 infants diagnosed with congenital methylmercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan. From the regression coefficients obtained in the Faroese samples, the median umbilical cord mercury concentration of 4.95 nmol/g dry weight in Minamata would correspond to 668 nmol/l cord blood and 114 nmol/g maternal hair. These levels agree well with other evidence of susceptibility of the fetus to increased exposure to methylmercury.

Full text

PDF
548

Images in this article

549Figure 1.
on p.549
549Figure 2.
on p.549

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Cox C., Clarkson T. W., Marsh D. O., Amin-Zaki L., Tikriti S., Myers G. G. Dose-response analysis of infants prenatally exposed to methyl mercury: an application of a single compartment model to single-strand hair analysis. Environ Res. 1989 Aug;49(2):318–332. doi: 10.1016/s0013-9351(89)80075-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Grandjean P., Weihe P., Jørgensen P. J., Clarkson T., Cernichiari E., Viderø T. Impact of maternal seafood diet on fetal exposure to mercury, selenium, and lead. Arch Environ Health. 1992 May-Jun;47(3):185–195. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1992.9938348. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Grandjean P., Weihe P. Neurobehavioral effects of intrauterine mercury exposure: potential sources of bias. Environ Res. 1993 Apr;61(1):176–183. doi: 10.1006/enrs.1993.1062. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Julshamn K., Andersen A., Ringdal O., Mørkøre J. Trace elements intake in the Faroe Islands. I. Element levels in edible parts of pilot whales (Globicephalus meleanus). Sci Total Environ. 1987 Sep;65:53–62. doi: 10.1016/0048-9697(87)90160-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Kuhnert P. M., Kuhnert B. R., Erhard P. Comparison of mercury levels in maternal blood, fetal cord blood, and placental tissues. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1981 Jan 15;139(2):209–213. doi: 10.1016/0002-9378(81)90448-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Pineau A., Piron M., Boiteau H. L., Etourneau M. J., Guillard O. Determination of total mercury in human hair samples by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry. J Anal Toxicol. 1990 Jul-Aug;14(4):235–238. doi: 10.1093/jat/14.4.235. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Sherlock J., Hislop J., Newton D., Topping G., Whittle K. Elevation of mercury in human blood from controlled chronic ingestion of methylmercury in fish. Hum Toxicol. 1984 Apr;3(2):117–131. doi: 10.1177/096032718400300205. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Environmental Health Perspectives are provided here courtesy of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

RESOURCES