Identification and Correlation Test of Mercury Levels in Community Urine at Traditional Gold Processing Locations

Abstract

Gold processing activities in Paya Seumantok Village, Krueng Sabee District, Aceh Jaya Regency, are known to utilize traditional mercury, posing a health threat to the workers and the local community. This study aims to identify local people’s urinary mercury levels near the gold processing plant in Paya Seumantok Village and to see the relationship between mercury levels and disease symptoms exhibited by the local people. To this end, ninety-one participants were recruited from a total member of a population of 928 people, determined using Slovin’s formula. The urine sample was collected using a purposive sampling technique following the procedure set by the regulation of the Minister of Health no. 43/2013. AAS Instrument was used to analyze the urinary mercury level. Sixteen out of 91 urine samples exhibited no mercury, while the rest, 75 samples, were found to contain mercury. The average urinary mercury level among local people near the site was 8.392 μg/L (SD: 6.721 g/L), while the minimum and maximum urinary mercury levels in this study were 0.19 μg/L and. 28.31 μg/L, respectively. Thirty-six samples were found to have mercury levels exceeding the acceptable threshold (7 μg/L), while thirty-nine samples had urinary mercury levels below the threshold. This study concluded that there is no relationship between urinary mercury levels and symptoms of acute and chronic diseases experienced local community and workers at the gold processing site in Paya Seumantok Village, Krueng Sabee District, Aceh Jaya Regency (p > 0.05)