A hair monitoring organized by international green groups among 45 delegates of a United Nations-led Mercury Conference in Sweden last week affirmed that there is mercury contamination in humans.

Organized by the International POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) Elimination Network and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, the hair test generated broader awareness among delegates about mercury levels in the body and drew media attention to the global mercury treaty.

At the UN meeting that aims to limit the use of mercury held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 7-11, hair samples were collected from 45 government delegates from 40 countries, including the Philippines, eight representatives of NGOs and indigenous peoples, four Swedish politicians, and one Swedish Olympic athlete.

The survey found mercury in all of the 58 hair test participants.

Local green group EcoWaste Coalition explained that the amount of mercury in hair provides an estimate of methylmercury in the body.

It added that fish consumption is the main way people are exposed to methylmercury, which is toxic to human health.

Mercury is released to the environment from many sources, including coal combustion, mining activities, mercury-containing products and devices, product manufacturing sites, metal refining and recycling, cement kilns, waste dumps and incinerators, contaminated sites, and crematoria, among others.

The survey found mercury levels between 93 ug/kg and 2956 ug/kg. More than one-third of the samples exceeded the US National Research Council mercury reference dose of 1000 ug/kg.

The reference dose is a level set for pregnant women to avoid adverse fetal brain development effects.

It also noted that average mercury levels in people from developing and transition countries were twice the levels measured in delegates from developed countries.

“The survey illustrates the need to tackle the mercury problem because mercury is present in all of us and it shouldn’t be a part of our bodies! To eliminate all sources of mercury, I and the Swedish government want an effective global legally binding instrument on mercury in place soon,” Andreas Carlgren, Swedish Environment Minister, one of the hair test participants, said.

“The test results only reinforce the need for collaborative efforts, locally and globally, to control mercury pollution from human activities and protect our environment, our food supply and our bodies from such a toxic threat. As a fish-eating nation, we have so much at stake in pursuing a treaty that will safeguard our marine staple foods,” said Juan Miguel Cuna, director of the Philippines’ Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), another hair test participant.

According to the UN, globally, fish is a major source of human exposure to mercury and a vital source of food.

EcoWaste said fish provides at least 40 percent of protein for two-thirds of the world’s population, including most of the world’s poor.

“Cooking or removing the skin does not remove mercury. Mercury is highly toxic, especially to the developing brain. The nervous system damage is irreversible,” EcoWaste said.

“Mercury is transformed into methyl mercury by micro-organisms in the environment. Methyl mercury then accumulates up the food chain as larger fish eat smaller ones. Due to long-range transport, high mercury levels are observed in the Arctic, far from the sources of any significant releases. This makes mercury contamination a global issue,” it added.