MERCURY LEVELS IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN FROM SURINAME

MERCURY LEVELS IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN FROM SURINAME JEFFREY K. WICKLIFFE, GWENDOLYN LANDBURG, WILLIAM HAWKINS, MAUREEN Y. LICHTVELD, WILCO ZIJLMANS, SIGRID MACDONALD, EMILY HARVILLE, AND PAUL OUBOTER

SURINAME LOCATION

SURINAME

GENERAL INFORMATION

• • • • • •

Former Dutch Plantation Colony, gained independence in 1975 Population (2016) - 567,000 (~3.5/km2) Total Area – 163,820 km2 (63,251 miles2) ~67% live in urban areas (primarily Paramaribo) Literacy is high (>95% for those >15 years of age) Historically bauxite mining, shifting now to other natural resources, and agriculture form the economic base.

• Includes contemporary gold mining

• 80% of the country is relatively pristine rain forest • Geologically and ecologically diverse • Two rainy seasons, two dry seasons per year

SURINAME

ETHNICALLY DIVERSE Percentage of the Populationa Hindustani Maroon 8% 13%

27%

Suriname Creole Javanese

14%

Mixed ethnicity/race 16%

22%

Amerindian and others

aMultiple

sources

PILOT STUDY

ASGM AND MERCURY IN INTERIOR RESIDENTS • Five villages in Suriname in the interior region • 2 villages outside of any active gold-mining with one village upstream (~60 km) of any stream/river section affected by artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM)

• Women up to age 50 included along with children (female and male) ages 3 months to 18 years of age • Hair sampled at the scalp • Mercury concentration determined by CVAAS Village Kwakoegron Pikin Sarona Poesoegroenoe Njoeng Jacobkondre Brownsweg Totals by age category and overall

aInhabited

<18 years of age 14 7 12 13 112

18 or older 12 9 1 3 49

Totals by Village 26 16 13 16 161

158

74

232

by indigenous people or Amerindians

Nickerie

Paramaribo Pikin Saron Kwakoegron Brownsweg Njoeng Jacobkondre Poesoegroenoe

MERCURY LEVELS IN HAIR PILOT STUDY (GEOMETRIC MEAN ± GSD)

H a ir H g ( µ g /g )

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MERCURY LEVELS IN BLOODa (GEOMETRIC MEAN ± GSD)

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L o c a t io n o r G r o u p aBlood

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levels measured in US participants. Estimated from hair levels in Surinamese participants.

MERCURY LEVELS IN HAIR BY AGE

H a ir H g ( µ g /g )

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10

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U S E P A A c tio n L e v e l 0 0

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CCREOH/MeKi Tamara Research P20-funded work • Expanded number of interior villages and includes the capital Paramaribo and the city of Nickerie • Targeted enrollment • 1,000 pregnant women and their babies

• Mercury, lead, cadmium, aluminum, arsenic, tin, essential elements including iron, copper, iodine, manganese, and selenium • Pesticides including organochlorines, organophosphates, carbamates, pyrethroids, and neonicotinoids • Maternal-child health endpoints including • Birth outcomes • Neurodevelopment especially neuropsychological performance

CCREOH/MeKi Tamara Research Map of Recruitment Sites

CCREOH/MEKI TAMARA PARTICIPANTS

Mercury in hair Location

Sample Size

Geometric Mean

Paramaribo* 266 0.60 Nickerie 56 0.78 Interior 25 2.22 *LOD=0.05 µg/g, 5 samples<LOD

Median

Minimum

Maximum

75th

90th

95th

0.60 0.73 2.13

0.00* 0.05 0.70

4.12 21.17 11.75

1.10 1.24 3.29

1.65 1.97 6.76

2.10 2.52 7.31

% exceeding 1.1 µg/g 23.8% 26.8% 80.0%

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M e r c u r y in H a ir ( µ g /g )

CCREOH/MEKI TAMARA PARTICIPANTS (GEOMETRIC MEAN ± GSD)

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CCREOH/MEKI TAMARA PARTICIPANTS Mercury in blood1

Geometric Median Minimum Maximum Mean

Paramaribo Nickerie Interior

2.38 3.12 8.90

2.40 2.94 8.54

Non-pregnant Pregnant

2.14 1.60

1.69 1.56

0.00 0.20 2.78

Suriname

75th

95th

% Sample exceeding Size 5.8 µg/L

16.47 84.67 47.00

4.40 6.58 8.39 4.95 7.86 10.07 13.18 27.03 29.22

13.5% 16.1% 72.0%

266 56 25

49.50 18.90

3.49 3.40

11.3% 11.4%

486 176

Southeast Louisiana 0.29 0.19

90th

NHANES (2009-2010)a

5.98 6.18

8.14 9.47

1-5 years <LOD* <LOD* N/A N/A 0.49 0.89 1.30 N/A 836 6-11 years <LOD* 0.36 N/A N/A 0.67 1.22 1.88 N/A 1009 12-19 years 0.53 0.45 N/A N/A 0.91 2.04 3.01 N/A 1183 Females 0.85 0.80 N/A N/A 1.61 3.13 4.43 N/A 4427 *LOD=0.33 µg/L aSource-USCDC Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, Updated Tables, March 2013 1Blood

levels measured in US participants. Estimated from hair levels in Surinamese participants.

ONGOING RESEARCH AND QUESTIONS • Measure (and speciate) mercury in blood (maternal, cord, and pediatric) • Ideally speciate in hair and measure in urine

• Assess neurodevelopment in children • Concentrations in pregnant women in Suriname have been shown in other cohorts (Faroe Islands and New Zealand) to cause decreased performance on neuropsychological tests but not in others (Seychelles) • Differences speculated to be the source of mercury (whale meat vs. marine fish)

• Conduct dietary surveys regarding fish consumption for assessing health risks and designing culturally appropriate interventions • Assess nutrient status (ω3 fatty acids and selenium) in research participants and consumed fish

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS • Research reported in this publication was supported by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R24TW009570, R24TW009561, U01TW010087, and U2RTW010104 • Additional funding contributors include the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute • The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health • Funding also provided by WWF-Guianas

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?

MeKi Tamara http://www.researchcentersuriname.org/en/mekitamara/

or Contact me at jwicklif@tulane.edu