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Veröffentlichung The burden of chronic mercury intoxication in artisanal small-scale gold mining in Zimbabwe: data availability and preliminary estimates(2014)Background
Artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a poverty-driven activity practiced in over 70 countries worldwide. Zimbabwe is amongst the top ten countries using large quantities of mercury to extract gold from ore. This analysis was performed to check data availability and derive a preliminary estimate of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to mercury use in ASGM in Zimbabwe.
Methods
Cases of chronic mercury intoxication were identified following an algorithm using mercury-related health effects and mercury in human specimens. The sample prevalence amongst miners and controls (surveyed by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in 2004 and the University of Munich in 2006) was determined and extrapolated to the entire population of Zimbabwe. Further epidemiological and demographic data were taken from the literature and missing data modeled with DisMod II to quantify DALYs using the methods from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2004 update published by the World Health Organization (WHO). While there was no disability weight (DW) available indicating the relative disease severity of chronic mercury intoxication, the DW of a comparable disease was assigned by following the criteria 1) chronic condition, 2) triggered by a substance, and 3) causing similar health symptoms.
Results
Miners showed a sample prevalence of 72% while controls showed no cases of chronic mercury intoxication. Data availability is very limited why it was necessary to model data and make assumptions about the number of exposed population, the definition of chronic mercury intoxication, DW, and epidemiology. If these assumptions hold, the extrapolation would result in around 95,400 DALYs in Zimbabwe's total population in 2004.
Conclusions
This analysis provides a preliminary quantification of the mercury-related health burden from ASGM based on the limited data available. If the determined assumptions hold, chronic mercury intoxication is likely to have been one of the top 20 hazards for population health in Zimbabwe in 2004 when comparing with more than 130 categories of diseases and injuries quantified in the WHO's GBD 2004 update. Improving data quality would allow more accurate estimates. However, the results highlight the need to reduce a burden which could be entirely avoided.
Quelle: http://www.ehjournal.netVeröffentlichung Analysis of sources and sinks of mercury in the urban water cycle of Frankfurt am Main, Germany(2015) Fricke, Imke; Götz, Rolf; Püttmann, Wilhelm; Schleyer, RuprechtMercury (Hg) is still a focus of environmental research, since its levels in fish frequently exceed the Environmental Quality Standard (EQS) of 20 Ţg/kg for biota defined by the European Water Framework Directive (Directive 2008/105/EC). Current Hg levels in Abramis brama from German rivers are in the range of 73-346 Ţg/kg wet weight (2009) and exceed the EQS by a factor of 3.7-17.3. Therefore, it is important to identify the sources of Hg pollution in the aquatic environment and to develop effective strategies for reducing the input into associated river systems. The aim of the present study was to analyze Hg in the urban water cycle of the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Samples were taken from the river Main crosscutting the city and its tributaries. In addition, precipitation, stormwater runoff, effluents of two municipal WWTPs, and stormwater management structures such as combined sewer overflows and stormwater retention basins have been analyzed. Loads of Hg have been determined based on the measured concentrations and a Hg mass balance for the aquatic system was created. A total of 160 water samples were analyzed by cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectroscopy (CVAFS) according to US EPA Method 1631. Results from the mass balance have shown that approximately 5 kg Hg/a enter and 15 kg Hg/a leave the study area of Frankfurt am Main via the river Main. The largest amount of Hg (24.58 kg/a) throughout the urban water cycle of Frankfurt am Main is transported via wastewater. However, municipal WWTPs in Frankfurt am Main have been identified as the largest Hg sink, since 99.7% (24.5 kg/a) of the Hg is shifted from the sewage water and stormwater during treatment into the sewage sludge. Thus, the increase of the Hg load in the river Main from 5 to 15 kg/a has to be attributed to other sources such as 3 industrial WWTPs, groundwater and non-treated stormwater runoff during heavy rain events.Quelle: http://www.mdpi.com