Recommended Wildlife Indicators

Proposed criteria for human health protection include drinking water concentrations less than 50 pg Mo/L, and daily dietary intakes less than 7 pg Mo/kg food — based on a 70-kg adult (Table 30.5). Molybdenum concentrations in blood of healthy people averaged 14.7 pg Mo/L, distributed between the plasma and erythrocytes. Anemic people had significantly lower blood molybdenum levels. In leukemia patients, molybdenum levels increased significantly in whole blood and erythrocytes but not in plasma (Shamberger 1979). Additional work is recommended on the use of blood in fish and wildlife as an indicator of molybdenum stress and metabolism (Eisler 1989). 

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