Reactive gaseous mercury is generated from chloralkali factories resulting in extreme concentrations of mercury in hair of workers

Abdelkarem A. S. Elgazali; Zuzana Gajdosechova; Zaigham Abbas; Enzo Lombi; Kirk G. Scheckel; Erica Donner; Heidelore Fiedler; Joerg Feldmann; Eva M. Krupp

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-20544-5

Reactive gaseous mercury is generated from chloralkali factories resulting in extreme concentrations of mercury in hair of workers

Abdelkarem A. S. Elgazali, Zuzana Gajdosechova, Zaigham Abbas, Enzo Lombi, Kirk G. Scheckel, Erica Donner, Heidelore Fiedler, Joerg Feldmann, Eva M. Krupp

Chemistry

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Abstract

Occupational exposure of chloralkali workers to highly concentrated mercury (Hg) vapour has been linked to an increased risk of renal dysfunction and behavioural changes. It is generally believed that these workers are exposed to elemental Hg, which is used in abundance during the production process
however, the lack in analytical techniques that would allow for identifcation of gaseous Hg species poses a challenge, which needs to be addressed in order to reach a consensus. Here, we present the results from simulated exposure studies, which provide sound evidence of higher adsorption rate of HgCl2 than Hg0 and its irreversible bonding on the surface of hair. We found that chloralkali workers were exposed to HgCl2, which accumulated in extremely high concentrations on the hair surface, more than 1,000 times higher than expected from unexposed subjects and was positively correlated with Hg levels in the fnger- and toenails.

Original language	English
Article number	3675
Pages (from-to)	1-11
Number of pages	11
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	8
Early online date	27 Feb 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20544-5
Publication status	Published - 2018

Bibliographical note

Part of this research was undertaken on the XAS and XFM beamlines at the Australian Synchrotron, Victoria, Australia. The authors thank UNEP Chemicals for financial support of this study as part of the project: Management of Mercury and Mercury containing waste.

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Reactive gaseous mercury is generated from chloralkali factories resulting in extreme concentrations of mercury in hair of workers
© The Author(s) 2018 This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Final published version, 2.87 MBLicence: CC BY

Eva Krupp
- School of Natural & Computing Sciences, Chemistry - Emeritus Reader
Person: Honorary

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title = "Reactive gaseous mercury is generated from chloralkali factories resulting in extreme concentrations of mercury in hair of workers",

abstract = "Occupational exposure of chloralkali workers to highly concentrated mercury (Hg) vapour has been linked to an increased risk of renal dysfunction and behavioural changes. It is generally believed that these workers are exposed to elemental Hg, which is used in abundance during the production processhowever, the lack in analytical techniques that would allow for identifcation of gaseous Hg species poses a challenge, which needs to be addressed in order to reach a consensus. Here, we present the results from simulated exposure studies, which provide sound evidence of higher adsorption rate of HgCl2 than Hg0 and its irreversible bonding on the surface of hair. We found that chloralkali workers were exposed to HgCl2, which accumulated in extremely high concentrations on the hair surface, more than 1,000 times higher than expected from unexposed subjects and was positively correlated with Hg levels in the fnger- and toenails.",

author = "Elgazali, {Abdelkarem A. S.} and Zuzana Gajdosechova and Zaigham Abbas and Enzo Lombi and Scheckel, {Kirk G.} and Erica Donner and Heidelore Fiedler and Joerg Feldmann and Krupp, {Eva M.}",

note = "Part of this research was undertaken on the XAS and XFM beamlines at the Australian Synchrotron, Victoria, Australia. The authors thank UNEP Chemicals for financial support of this study as part of the project: Management of Mercury and Mercury containing waste.",

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doi = "10.1038/s41598-018-20544-5",

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AU - Elgazali, Abdelkarem A. S.

AU - Gajdosechova, Zuzana

AU - Abbas, Zaigham

AU - Lombi, Enzo

AU - Scheckel, Kirk G.

AU - Donner, Erica

AU - Fiedler, Heidelore

AU - Feldmann, Joerg

AU - Krupp, Eva M.

N1 - Part of this research was undertaken on the XAS and XFM beamlines at the Australian Synchrotron, Victoria, Australia. The authors thank UNEP Chemicals for financial support of this study as part of the project: Management of Mercury and Mercury containing waste.

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N2 - Occupational exposure of chloralkali workers to highly concentrated mercury (Hg) vapour has been linked to an increased risk of renal dysfunction and behavioural changes. It is generally believed that these workers are exposed to elemental Hg, which is used in abundance during the production processhowever, the lack in analytical techniques that would allow for identifcation of gaseous Hg species poses a challenge, which needs to be addressed in order to reach a consensus. Here, we present the results from simulated exposure studies, which provide sound evidence of higher adsorption rate of HgCl2 than Hg0 and its irreversible bonding on the surface of hair. We found that chloralkali workers were exposed to HgCl2, which accumulated in extremely high concentrations on the hair surface, more than 1,000 times higher than expected from unexposed subjects and was positively correlated with Hg levels in the fnger- and toenails.

AB - Occupational exposure of chloralkali workers to highly concentrated mercury (Hg) vapour has been linked to an increased risk of renal dysfunction and behavioural changes. It is generally believed that these workers are exposed to elemental Hg, which is used in abundance during the production processhowever, the lack in analytical techniques that would allow for identifcation of gaseous Hg species poses a challenge, which needs to be addressed in order to reach a consensus. Here, we present the results from simulated exposure studies, which provide sound evidence of higher adsorption rate of HgCl2 than Hg0 and its irreversible bonding on the surface of hair. We found that chloralkali workers were exposed to HgCl2, which accumulated in extremely high concentrations on the hair surface, more than 1,000 times higher than expected from unexposed subjects and was positively correlated with Hg levels in the fnger- and toenails.

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JO - Scientific Reports

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Reactive gaseous mercury is generated from chloralkali factories resulting in extreme concentrations of mercury in hair of workers

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Eva Krupp

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