Mercury burden development

New Hampshire Developing public-health laboratory capacity to biomonitor for arsenic, mercury, phthalates, poly-brominated diphenyl ethers and planning pilot studies to estimate body burden of environmental toxicants using newly developed biomonitoring analytic methods (CDC 2005). 

Dietary exposure of amphibians in sites receiving mercury mainly via atmospheric deposition - estimated to range from 1.5 to 3.0 mg Hg/kg FW ration - may be sufficient to adversely affect survival, growth, and development. Studies with tadpoles of the southern leopard frog (Rana sphenocephala) fed mercury-containing diets for 254 days showed that about 28% died at the highest concentrations fed of 0.5 and 1.0 mg Hg +/kg FW ration malformation rates were dose-related, with 5.0% in controls, 5.6% in the 0.1 mg Hg/kg FW diet, 11.1% in the 0.5mg/kg and 27.8% in the l.Omg/kg diet. Malformations included dose-related scoliosis. Arrested growth and development, and tail resorption were also positively dose-related. Total mercury body burdens were also dose-related with about... 

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