Urinary Mercury Monitoring of University Staff and Students Occasionally Exposed to Mercury Vapor

To monitor the exposure to mercury (Hg) vapor among university staff members and students who occasionally handle elemental Hg in laboratory experiments, urine samples were collected at health examinations conducted by the Health Service Center, University of Tokyo, for six years. Geometric mean of urinary Hg concentrations of 343 samples collected from 234 subjects was 1.61, ug Hg/g creatinine (Cr), with the range of 0.30 to 9.31, ug Hg/g Cr. Elevated urinary Hg levels, i.e. 3 fig Hg/g Cr or higher, were found only among the subjects who worked in several laboratories. This urinary Hg level is judged to correspond to 1-2μg/m3 of air Hg concentration in working areas. The contribution of dental amalgam fillings to urinary Hg excretion, though it exists, was concluded to be small from the result of multiple regression analysis.