Part of the Case Study I read online but could not upload here:
In Dr. Paul Lam?s private pediatric clinic in Hong Kong, children are treated for a number of ailments, all related to chronic mercury intoxication. Aside from multiple medical problems, the most common symptoms seen in those children are recurrent feeding problems, hyperirritability, immune deficiencies, severe allergies, skin problems. Conventional medical treatment has been tried and has failed.
The cause of intractable symptoms in early infancy is thought to be transplacental passage of heavy metal from mothers who had a history of regularly consuming contaminated fish. Mercury levels in maternal blood, cord blood, and hair samples from newborn infants in Hong Kong and correlation with fish consumption and maternal age were evaluated in the study. Maternal fish consumption and maternal age were found to be positively correlated with cord blood mercury levels. Approximately 78% of the cord blood samples were above 29 nmol/L. Marine fish consumption was found to have a stronger positive correlation with mercury concentration than freshwater fish consumption.1
Hong Kong fish and seafood are known to be contaminated with mercury and arsenic. The average person in Hong Kong consumes fish or shellfish four or more times a week averaging about 60 kg of fish per year. Children, especially those of upper-income families, are regularly feed fish at an early age, generally before age one. Even though the mean mercury level in store-bought Hong Kong fish was only 0.12 mg/kg, corroborating evidence is presented from numerous studies to support the view that mercury bioaccumulates. If a child eats on average 100 g of fish three times per week (which is not much for Hong Kong people), he will consume about 0.03mg (=30mcg) mercury per week. The authors of a study on subfertility, published in 1998, estimate that by the time a typical Hong Kong male reaches 30 years of age, he will accumulated 4mg/kg or 4mcg/g mercury in hair ? only from eating fish.2 A recent statistical evaluation of laboratory data obtained from Hong Kong children demonstrates that the average mercury accumulation of mercury in hair of Hong Kong children younger than 12 years of age is already that high, namely 4mg/kg.
An assessment of US children, one to five years of age (n = 838), and women, 16-49 years of age (n = 1,726), using hair mercury analysis during the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) showed a tremendous difference. The data are representative of the US population and are based on analysis of cross-sectional data for the noninstitutionalized, US household population. The survey consisted of interviews conducted in participants? homes and standardized health examinations conducted in mobile examination centers. Distributions of total hair mercury levels expressed as micrograms per gram hair Hg and the association of hair Hg levels with sociodemographic characteristics and fish consumption are reported. Geometric mean (standard error of the geometric mean) hair mercury was 0.12 μg/g (0.01 μg/g) in children and 0.20 μg/g (0.02 μg/g) in women. Among frequent fish consumers, geometric mean hair mercury levels were threefold higher for women (0.38 vs. 0.11 μg/g) and twofold higher for children (0.16 vs. 0.08 μg/g) compared with nonconsumers.
