INVESTIGADORES
BOTTE Sandra Elizabeth
capítulos de libros
Título:
Mercury levels and accumulation trends in organisms from the Argentine Sea: a critical review
Autor/es:
MARCOVECCHIO, J.E.; BOTTÉ, S.E.; DE MARCO, S.G.
Libro:
Health and Environmental Effects of Mercury? Impacts of Mercury in South and Central America
Editorial:
K. Eto, National Institute of Minamata Disease ? Ministry of the Environment
Referencias:
Lugar: Minamata; Año: 2004; p. 58 - 75
Resumen:
Studies on mercury occurrence, concentration and distribution in marine organisms from the Argentine Sea has been started in the earliest 80´s, and have been permanently developed up to the present. Significant differences have been established between Hg contents within organisms living in coastal areas (i.e., fishes, mollusks, marine mammals, etc) and those species living offshore. In all cases biological tissues were mineralized according to an own modification of the method previously described by Uthe et al 1970), while analytical determination of total mercury has been carried out through flameless atomic absorption spectroscopy with cold vapor technique (CV-FAAS). In all cases analytical quality was checked against international reference materials. Most of the analyzed fish species from the Argentine Sea have presented mercury values lower than standards internationally accepted as apt for human consumption, even several cases (big sharks, flat fish) with higher ones existed in particular sites of the studied area. In the case of marine mammals, most of analyzed species (including dolphins, porpoises, whales, sea lions and seals) have always presented recordable mercury contents, and in several cases very high ones. Finally, in the case of birds, also most of the studied species have presented mercury residues in their tissues, with a wide range of values among them. Both mercury bioaccumulation and biomagnification processes were evaluated in the studied organisms, as well as the potential qualification of marine foodstuffs for human consumption. All these results were discussed within an environmental framework, keeping in focus the potentiallity of injuries against the human health.
