Relating food and human hair to assess mercury exposure levels in Poboya, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Poboya is a major small-scale gold-mining area in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, that has been operating since 2009. About 200–500 kg of mercury is released each day as a result of gold-mining activities over a total area of 7000 ha. We examined mercury contamination by using two types of sample, namely food and human hair. Samples were obtained in Poboya and in the city of Palu, 11 km away. Samples of 22 foods were obtained from traditional markets in Poboya and Palu. Total mercury concentrations ranged from 0.003 to 0.31 µg/g in foods from Poboya and from 0.001 to 0.13 µg/g in those from Palu. The highest total mercury concentration in Poboya was found in unripe banana, which is frequently consumed by the local people. In Poboya, the weekly mercury intakes from foods were calculated at 180.3 µg/person from vegetables, 1.7 µg/person from processed foods, 51.4 µg/person from seafood, and 17.2 µg/person from meat and eggs. In Palu, the weekly mercury intakes were 2.9 µg/person from vegetables, 3.1 µg/person from processed foods, 60.8 µg/person from seafood, and 19 µg/person from meat and eggs. These findings delineated Poboya as an area polluted by mercury contamination. Intake of mercury-contaminated food influenced the results obtained in human hair. Hair concentrations of total mercury in Poboya ranged from 0.3 to 19.6 µg/g.