Survey on mercury level in children's hair after comprehensive management of Songhua river

  Objective   To investigate the present conditions of mercury-polluted environment and the mercury accumulation in children's body.

  Methods   The content of mercury in water, soil, food, fish and children's hair was measured and compared with that of 1982 and ten years before.

  Results   The content of mercury in water, fish, hair were not significantly higher than that in the standards and remarkably lower than that of 1982 and ten years before(P < 0.01).No difference was observed between survey group and control group(P > 0.05).The mercury content in rice of survey group was lower than that of 1982 and ten years before(P < 0.01), and significantly higher than that of control group(P < 0.05).The mercury content in children's hair of survey group was obviously lower than that of 1982 and ten years before, but no significant difference was observed between control group and survey group.

  Conclusion   The environmental conditions of mercury-polluted Songhua river were greatly improved after comprehensive asdministration and there was no mercury accumulation in children's body.