Evaluation of mercury pollution in breast milk and Iranian infants’ hair

ABSTRACT : Breast milk is the main nutrition for the children of 4-6 months old. The mercury of mother’s body may be transferred to infant via milk. Mercury is a neural toxic metal and endangers the proper growth of infants. This paper aims to study the bio monitoring of mercury in the breast milk and infants’ hair in the southern coasts of Caspian Sea. We evaluated the concentration of mercury in the milk of 82 mothers and the hair of 82 infants and other affecting factors on this. The mean concentrations of mercury in the breast milk and infants’ hair were 0.43 ?g L-1 and 0.92 ?g g-1 respectively. We did not observe any statistical significant correlation between the amount of mercury in breast milk and infants’ hair. The consumption of fish was the only influential factor in the amount of mercury in breast milk. Other factors like mother’s age, living place and pregnancy periods do not affect the amount of mercury in breast milk. The average density of mercury in the hair of 6.5 % of the studied infants (n=8) was higher than the normal WHO recommended limit and EPA Reference dose (2 ?g g-1). Also the density of mercury in 2.4 % of breast milk samples (n=2) was more than daily intake of mercury for infants recommended by US EPA and WHO (0.5 ?g g-1). As results suggest, mothers of this region must consume unpolluted fishes in order to minimizing the risk of toxic exposure for their health and infants.