Reprinted from Water, Air and Soil Pollution 97:1-2. The international concern for the human health effects of methylmercury, especially potential effects on the fetus, continues and is the basis for a number of the papers presented in this book. The papers cover a wide range of topics, eg. populations potentially at risk, such as native peoples in Canada, Amazonia and the Seychelles; industrial exposure in Amazonia and Eastern Europe; the indirect social and cultural impacts of mercury on native peoples in Canada, which is a growing area of concern, and the difficult topics of risk assessment and risk management, especially with reference to native peoples.
Part I: Fish Consumption and Methylmercury Exposure in the Amazon. Mercury Contamination in Hair of Riverine Populations of Apiacas Reserve in the Brazilian Amazon; A.C. Barbosa, et al. Fish Contamination and Human Exposure to Mercury in Tartarugaizinho River, Amapa State, Northern Amazon, Brazil. A Screening Approach; E.D. Bidone, et al. Methylmercury in Hair Samples from Different Riverine Groups, Amazon, Brazil; H.A. Kehrig, et al. Fish Diet and Mercury Exposure in Riparian Amazonian Populations; J. Lebel, et al. Follow-Up of Mercury Levels in Fish, Human Hair and Urine in the Madeira and Tapajos Basins, Amazon, Brazil; O. Malm, et al. Part II: Child Development and Long Term Exposure. The Seychelles Child Development Study: Results and New Directions through Twenty-Nine Months; G.J. Myers, et al. Exposure Patterns and Long Term Sequelae on Adults and Children in Two Canadian Indigenous Communities Exposed to Methylmercury; B. Wheatley, et al. Part III: Policy and Program Considerations. Mercury in Northern Quebec: Role of the Mercury Agreement and Status of Research and Monitoring; G. Chevalier, et al. Social and Cultural Impacts of Mercury Pollution on Aboriginal Peoples in Canada; M.A. Wheatley. Part IV: Modelling, Risk Assessment and Exposure Estimates. Risk Assessment of Mercury in Alta Floresta, Amazon Basin, Brazil; S. Hacon, et al. Estimating Risks from Exposure to Methylmercury: Application to First Nations People in Canada; S. Hoover, et al. Estimating Exposure to Methylmercury: Effects of Uncertainties; F.W. Lipfert. Mercury Contamination through Fish Consumption: A Model for Predicting and Preventing Hazardous Behaviour on a Community Level; S. Paradis, et al. Probabilistic Assessment of Regional Mercury Exposure; C. Seigneur, et al. Part V: Occupational Exposure. The Health Safety Programme for Workers Exposed to Elemental Mercury at the Mercury Mine in Idrija; A. Kobal, T. Dizdarevic. Exposure to Metallic Mercury in Workers in a Tropical Chloralkali Plant Evaluated through Urine Analysis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; O. Malm, et al. Mercury Values in Urine from Inhabitants of St. Petersburg; S.E. Pogarev, et al.