Mercury Concentration in Hair Due to Environment on Two Populations in Mexico

The study of mercury pollution has been intensified through the last decades due to the high toxicity of this heavy metal and its increasing availability in the environment; since mercury is produced by both natural and anthropogenic processes. Mercury is an element naturally present in air, water and soil, leading to its accumulation in all living beings without being essential for any biological process. The measurement of the corporal mercury load in humans is made through the use of different biological markers such as nails, teeth, bones, saliva, urine, blood and hair. Our objective was to quantify total mercury in hair of two populations: one rural population (miners of the region of San Joaquin, Queretaro, Mexico) and one urban population of the Metropolitan Area of Mexico, and to compare the results of a population potentially exposed by the explotation of mercury in mines and a community not affected by mercury emissions. Each participant provided a hair sample and completed a questionnaire assessing potential exposures and health outcomes. We found average mercury concentrations of 32.07 µg g⁻¹ and 2.62 µg g⁻¹ in the rural and urban population, respectively. The great difference between these values is probably due to a difference in the time of exposure for each population. In both cases, the populations studied exceeded the maximum allowable limit established in standards and by national and international agencies, mainly due to the direct exposure of mercury vapors in miners and by anthropogenic sources in the urban population.