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

The Scientific Paper:

C. Dalgard, P. Grandjean, P. J. Jorgensen, and P. Weihe. Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). Vol. 102, No. 6-7. pp. 548-550. 1994.

Review This Scientific Paper’s Abstract:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db
=PubMed&list_uids=9679113&dopt=Abstract

The Purpose of this Study:
These scientists examined the relation between the mercury concentrations in umbilical cord tissue with the methylmercury levels in the mother’s hair and in the umbilical cord blood. The umbilical cord tissue was obtained from 50 births in the Faroe Islands where high methylmercury intake is caused by regularly eating a lot of pilot whale meat.

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

• This peer-reviewed, scientific paper was published in 1994.
• Minamata disease is the name given to the bad effects caused by methylmercury in Japanese people living on Minamata Bay Japan. These Japanese fishing villagers were severely poisoned with methylmercury by regularly eating a lot of fish locally caught in Minamata Bay Japan for a long time. A local Japanese industry dumped great amounts of mercury-containing industrial waste directly into Minamata Bay Japan. This mercury was then naturally changed into methylmercury that then accumulated in the fish that the local Japanese fishing villagers caught and ate every day in large amounts and for a long time.
• The high levels of methylmercury exposure in the Faroe Islands are caused by regularly eating a lot of things from the local ocean. They especially eat a lot of pilot whale meat known to have high levels of methylmercury and other hazardous chemical pollutants. These hazardous chemical pollutants all harm people in various ways.
• The methylmercury concentrations in pilot whale meat vary depending on age of each pilot whale. Also, some pilot whales have higher levels of methylmercury (and other hazardous chemical pollutants) than do other pilot whales. The methylmercury levels in pilot whales eaten by the Faroese people usually are several times greater than allowed in seafood eaten by people by regulation in many other countries.
• These scientists found that the highest methylmercury levels in the umbilical cord tissue are associated with the mothers eating a lot of pilot whale meat.

A Bottom Line:
The methylmercury levels in the umbilical cord tissue match-up well with those methylmercury levels found in the umbilical cord blood – and almost as well with the methylmercury levels found in the mothers’ hair.

These scientists found that high levels of methylmercury in the umbilical cord tissue are clearly related to how often the pregnant mothers ate how much pilot whale meat. There was much variation in the methylmercury levels from one mother and child to the next mother and child.

Find This Scientific Paper for Your Review:
Mercury in the Umbilical Cord: Implications for Risk Assessment for Minamata Disease. Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). Vol. 102, No. 6-7. pp. 548-550. 1994.