mercury contamination in fishermen’s hair in zabol chahnimeh reservoirs, iran

aquatic ecosystems contaminated by heavy metals are a worldwide concern. these metals are toxic and persistent. this research aimed to measure mercury in the hair of fishermen, working at chahnimeh reservoirs, sistan and baluchistan province, south-east of iran. samples were collected from april 2012 to october 2012 from 40 local fishermen. those fishermen with amalgam-filled teeth (a source of mercury) were excluded. the average amount of mercury in the samples was 1.56 μg/g (ranging from 0.1 to 3.65 μg/g). in 29 fishermen (72%) hair mercury levels exceeded the reference dose of the usepa. the results in this study showed that height and age were not significantly related to mercury levels, but body weight and bmi were. fish consumption (p=0.001), smoking (p=0.018), weight (r=0.35, p=0.02) and bmi (r = 0.35, p=0.02) were significantly related to hair mercury levels. fruit (p=0.017) and dairy consumption (p 0.001) were inversely related to the concentration of mercury in hair.