MercuNorth – monitoring mercury in pregnant women from the Arctic as a baseline to assess the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention

• Published in: International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Main Authors: Bryan Adlard, Mélanie Lemire, Eva C. Bonefeld-Jørgensen, Manhai Long, Kristín Ólafsdóttir, Jon O. Odland, Arja Rautio, Päivi Myllynen, Torkjel M. Sandanger, Alexey A. Dudarev, Ingvar A. Bergdahl, Maria Wennberg, James Berner, Pierre Ayotte
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2021
• Subjects: mercury; biomonitoring; arctic; minamata convention; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; Canada; Greenland; Murmansk; Norway; Nunavik; Circumpolar Health; Iceland; International Journal of Circumpolar Health; Murmansk Oblast; Alaska; Lapland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2021.1881345; https://doaj.org/article/a767ca4709b24ad88c02893c6576d09b

Exposure to mercury (Hg) is a global concern, particularly among Arctic populations that rely on the consumption of marine mammals and fish which are the main route of Hg exposure for Arctic populations.The MercuNorth project was created to establish baseline Hg levels across several Arctic regions during the period preceding the Minamata Convention. Blood samples were collected from 669 pregnant women, aged 18–44 years, between 2010 and 2016 from sites across the circumpolar Arctic including Alaska (USA), Nunavik (Canada), Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Northern Lapland (Finland) and Murmansk Oblast (Russia). Descriptive statistics were calculated, multiple pairwise comparisons were made between regions, and unadjusted linear trend analyses were performed.Geometric mean concentrations of total Hg were highest in Nunavik (5.20 µg/L) and Greenland (3.79 µg/L), followed by Alaska (2.13 µg/L), with much lower concentrations observed in the other regions (ranged between 0.48 and 1.29 µg/L). In Nunavik, Alaska and Greenland, blood Hg concentrations have decreased significantly since 1992, 2000 and 2010 respectively with % annual decreases of 4.7%, 7.5% and 2.7%, respectively.These circumpolar data combined with fish and marine mammal consumption data can be used for assessing long-term Hg trends and the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention.