Mercury, Food Webs, and Marine Mammals: Implications of Diet and Climate Change for Human Health

The Scientific Paper:

S. Booth and D. Zeller. Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). Vol.113, No. 5. pp. 521-526. 2005.

Review This Scientific Paper’s Abstract:
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2005/7603/7603.html

The Purpose of this Study:
These scientists attempt to determine just how the average human methylmercury exposure in the Faroe Islands relates to the pilot whale meat and fish eaten by the Faroese people.

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

• This peer-reviewed, scientific paper was published in 2005.
• These scientists modeled the flow of the global toxic pollutant methylmercury in the Faroe Islands marine ecosystem. They then compared the average Faroese human methylmercury exposure from eating locally caught pilot whale meat and locally caught fish (here, a lot of cod fish) with the current tolerable weekly intake (TWI) levels of methylmercury set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Under present conditions and climate change scenarios, methylmercury increased in the ecosystem. This in turn caused increased human methylmercury exposure over time.
• These scientists saw even greater changes in human methylmercury exposure as a result of certain types of fish populations being depleted with fish-eating people then forced to now eat different types of fish as a result.
• These scientists believe that a large portion of the general human population exceed the methylmercury TWI levels set by the World Health Organization (WHO), and they all exceed the more restrictive / cautious / conservative EPA methylmercury reference dose.
• As a result of an independent study documenting that Faroese unborn children exposed to methylmercury may have suffered some reported detectable harm(s), pregnant women in the Faroe Islands now eat less pilot whale meat. These women are now only eating pilot whale meat that allows them to keep their exposure to methylmercury (and other hazardous chemical contaminants known to be pilot whale meat) below the TWI levels set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. EPA.
• The cod fish eaten by the Faroese people had approximately 95% lower methylmercury levels than did the pilot whale meat they also eat. The high and harmful levels of methylmercury in the diet of Faroe Islanders are driven by theses people eating a lot of pilot whale meat. The increasing impact of climate change is likely to only make this bad situation worse as the available foods from the sea begin to change in varieties and amounts.
• Base inflow rates of mercury into the environment would need to be reduced by approximately 50% to ensure levels of methylmercury intake below the World Health Organization (WHO) TWI levels, given the current levels of eating pilot whales by the Faroese people.

A Bottom Line:
Manmade mercury pollution is a global problem that will continue to affect future generations all over the world.

Find This Scientific Paper for Your Review:
Mercury, Food Webs, and Marine Mammals: Implications of Diet and Climate Change for Human Health. Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). Vol.113, No. 5. pp. 521-526. 2005.
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2005/7603/7603.html