Methylmercury Neurotoxicity Independent of PCB Exposure

A Comment in a Peer-Reviewed, Scientific Journal:

Esben Budtz-Jørgensen, Niels Keiding, Philippe Grandjean, Roberta F. White, and Pál Weihe. Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). May: 107 (5); A pp 236-237. 1998.

Review This Comment in a Peer-Reviewed, Scientific Journal
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1999/107-5/correspondence.html

The Purpose of this Comment:
These scientists are commenting on a paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives in 1998 that closely reviewed one earlier study done by these scientists. This particular, scientific study investigated the possible bad affects of the chemical pollutant methylmercury in certain children living in the Faroe Islands. This scientific study was reviewed at a meeting held by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This NIEHS meeting was held for the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) of The White House.

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

• One of the main things discussed at this NIEHS meeting was if simultaneous exposure in the womb to the chemical pollutants methylmercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) did cause bad affects on the mental development of these 7-year old Faroe Islands children.
• These scientists reported in an earlier scientific paper that adjusting the study results for the umbilical cord blood, PCB levels barely changed the results for the umbilical cord blood, mercury levels when predicting bad mental development affects in these Faroe Islands children.
• These scientists finished some more work on their research in an attempt to answer some of the questions that came from this NIEHS meeting.
• Most of the PCB exposure in the Faroe Islands comes from people eating whale blubber. About half of the mothers living in the Faroe Islands don’t eat whale blubber.

A Bottom Line:

• These scientists found that the umbilical cord blood mercury levels best predict any mental developmental bad affects in these Faroe Islands children.
• Additional work on this research did not suggest that the mercury effect can be explained by any simultaneous exposure to PCBs - or that PCB exposure causes an even worse mercury-associated bad effect on the mental development of these Faroe Islands children.

Find This Comment in a Peer-Reviewed, Scientific Journal:
Methylmercury Neurotoxicity Independent of PCB Exposure.
Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). May: 107 (5); A pp 236-237. 1998.