Monitoring of Environmental Mercury Exposure Using Hair as Bioindicator and the Study of Potential Factors Affecting on It in Karachi

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have recommended the use of hair for worldwide environmental monitoring. Mercury exposure to the inhabitants of Karachi was assessed by using hair as bioindicator. Hair samples of 200 residents of Karachi were collected and analyzed through cold vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy (CVAA) technique for mercury concentration. The effects of age, gender, working status, location, food and smoking habit were investigated. Control region showed a positive correlation between HHg and age of donor while no such correlation was observed for polluted regions. Mercury exposure through cosmetic usage in female was only pronounced in control region. These results indicate that environmental pollution dominates other potential factors.