Benchmark Concentrations for Methylmercury Obtained From the Seychelles Child Development Study

The Scientific Paper:

Kenny S. Crump, Cynthia Van Landingham, Conrad Shamlaye, Christopher Cox, Phillip W. Davidson, Gary J. Myers, and Thomas W. Clarkson. Environmental Health Perspectives. Vol. 108, No. 3. pp. 257-263. 2000.
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2000/108p257-263crump/abstract.html

Review This Scientific Paper’s Abstract:
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2000/108p257-263crump/abstract.html

The Purpose of this Study:
These scientists discuss whether the Seychelles Child Development Study or the Faroe Islands study should be used to determine the U.S. methylmercury regulatory levels in fish and seafood. Both scientific studies researched the possible bad effect(s) of methylmercury in people who regularly ate a lot of fish and/or other seafoods – including pilot whale meat and/or blubber.

Some Background, Methods, Results, Caveats, and Other Select Points:

• This peer-reviewed, scientific paper was published in 2000.
• These scientists analyzed the data from this scientific study to provide an alternative basis for determining an appropriate U.S. human methylmercury exposure level using the Seychelles Child Development Study data.
• High levels of methylmercury cause bad effects in people. The developing unborn human infant is particularly susceptible to the bad effects caused by methylmercury in people.
• Because methylmercury exposure happens primarily by eating certain types of fish, there is some concern that pregnant women who eat certain types and certain amounts of fish could eat enough methylmercury to cause bad effects in these women’s unborn children.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methylmercury reference dose is based on a certain type of analysis of scientific data from an accidental methylmercury poisoning episode in Iraq in which pregnant women unknowingly consumed seed grain treated with methylmercury used as a fungicide to protect the seed grain before it germinates in the ground. The methylmercury levels of exposure in Iraq were short term and at much higher levels than those that result from eating fish.
• In contrast, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR – part of the Department of Health and Human Services – DHHS) based its proposed minimal risk methylmercury level on a no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) derived from testing the brains and/or nervous systems of children in the Seychelles Islands where people regularly eat a lot of certain types of fish. Because no mercury-caused bad effects were seen in the Seychelles Child Development Study, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR / DHHS) considered the average methylmercury exposure in that study to be a no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL). However, an average level of methylmercury exposure may not be a good indicator of truly no bad methylmercury effects happening at that level of methylmercury exposure.

A Bottom Line:
These scientists believe that the U.S. methylmercury regulatory level of human exposure should be derived from the Seychelles Child Development Study and not from the Faroe Island study. Both scientific studies researched the possible bad effect(s) of methylmercury in people who regularly ate a lot of fish and/or other seafoods - including pilot whale meat and/or blubber.

These scientists believe that the limitations in the study of the accidental methylmercury poisoning in Iraq suggests that this Iraq study is less useful for determining a U.S. methylmercury regulatory level for people than is the Seychelles Child Development Study that studied the possible bad effect(s) of methylmercury in people who regularly ate a lot of fish and/or other seafoods - including pilot whale meat and/or blubber.

Find This Scientific Paper for Your Review:
Benchmark Concentrations for Methylmercury Obtained From the Seychelles Child Development Study. Environmental Health Perspectives. Vol. 108, No. 3. pp. 257-263. 2000.
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2000/108p257-263crump/abstract.html