An overview of mercury contamination research in the Amazon basin with an emphasis on Brazil
Open accessAbstract
This article provides an overview of research on mercury contamination in the Amazon Basin and its evolution from 1990 to 2005. The assessment was based on an extensive and systematic review using bibliographic databases available online and a review of projects by research groups. Brazilian research groups were identified using the database of the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq). A geographic information system was used to determine the location of the studies. Different aspects of mercury contamination were evaluated (environmental studies, impacts on human health, technological improvements). For 1990-2005, a total of 455 publications were identified. The main advances and remaining gaps in relation to environmental issues and human health were identified and discussed. Although the scientific output varied considerably over the period, there was a general increase in the total number of publications per year from the early 1990s (fewer than 20) until 2005 (more than 30), considering the articles published in indexed journals.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Many studies have already shown mercury contamination in the fauna of the Tapajós River Basin at least two decades ago.
“Many studies have already shown mercury contamination in the fauna of the Tapajós River Basin at least two decades ago [55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65].”
From Health Risk Assessment of Mercury Exposure from Fish Consumption in Munduruku Indigenous Communities in the Brazilian Amazon (2021) · cites this paper as [61]
The Introduction (page not specified) says mercury contamination of Amazonian biota was well documented and describes Tapajós residents consuming contaminated food. The Results and discussion (page not specified) identifies the Tapajós as a major research site. These passages support the general point, but do not establish that many studies had specifically demonstrated contamination of Tapajós fauna at least two decades before the citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
No references could be resolved yet.
Research works printed but not linked: 63
- Lacerda LD, Pfeiffer WC, Ott AT, Silveira EG. Mer- cury contamination in the Madeira River, Amazon Hg inputs to the environment. Biotropica 1989; 21:91-3.
- Martinelli LA, Ferreira JR, Forsberg BR, Victoria RL. Mercury contamination in the Amazon -a gold rush consequence. Ambio 1988; 17:252-4.
- Pfeiffer WC, Lacerda LD. Mercury inputs into the Amazon Region, Brazil. Environmental Technol- ogy Letters 1988; 9:325-30.
- Malm O, Pfeiffer WC, Souza CMM, Reuther R. Mer- cury pollution due to gold mining in the Madeira River Basin, Brazil. Ambio 1990; 19:11-5.
- Aula I, Braunschweiler H, Malin I. The watershed flux of mercury examined with indicators in the Tucurui reservoir in Para, Brazil. Sci Total Environ 1995; 175:97-107.
- Akagi H. Mercury pollution in the Amazon, Brazil. Japanese Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health 1995; 41:107-15.
- Richard S, Arnoux A, Cerdan P, Reynouard C, Ho- reau V. Mercury levels of soils, sediments and fish in French Guiana, South America. Water Air Soil Pollut 2000; 124:221-44.
- Jensen S, Jernelov A. Biological methylation of mer- cury in aquatic organisms. Nature 1969; 223:753-4.
- Ebinghaus R, Hintelmann H, Wilken RD. Mercury- cycling in surface waters and in the atmosphere: species analysis for the investigation of transfor- mation and transport properties of mercury. Fre- senius J Anal Chem 1994; 350:21-9.
- Cad. Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, 24(7):1479-1492, jul, 2008
- Morel FMM, Krapiel AM, Amyot M. The chemical cycle and bioaccumulation of mercury. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 1998; 29:543-66.
- Barkay T, Miller MS, Summers AO. Bacterial mer- cury resistance from atoms to ecosystems. FEMS Microbiol Rev 2003; 27:355-84.
- Dorea JG, Barbosa AC, Ferrari I, Souza JR. Mercury in hair and in fish consumed by riparian women of the Rio Negro, Amazon, Brazil. Int J Environ Health Res 2003; 13:239-48.
- Dorea JG, Barbosa AC. Fruits, fish and mercury: further considerations. Environ Res 2004; 96:102-3.
- Barbosa AC, Souza J, Dórea JG, Jardim WF, Fadini PS. Mercury biomagnification in a tropical black water, Rio Negro, Brazil. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 2003; 45:235-46.
- Fadini PS, Jardim WF. Is the Negro River Basin (Amazon) impacted by naturally occurring mer- cury? Sci Total Environ 2001; 275:71-82.
- Lechler PJ, Miller JR, Lacerda LD, Vinson D, Bon- zongo JC, Lyons WB, et al. Elevated mercury con- centrations in soils, sediments, water, and fish of the Madeira River basin, Brazilian Amazon: a function of natural enrichments? Sci Total Environ 2000; 260:87-96.
- Niagru JO. Mercury pollution in Brazil. Nature 1992; 356:389.
- Hylander LD, Silva EC, Oliveira LJ, Silva S, Kuntze EK, Silva DX. Mercury levels in Alto-Pantanal: a screening study. Ambio 1994; 23:478-84.
- Villas Bôas RC. The mercury problem in the Ama- zon due to gold extraction. Journal of Geochemical Exploration 1997; 58:217-22.
- Wasserman JC, Hacon S, Wasserman MA. Biogeo- chemistry of mercury in the Amazonian environ- ment. Ambio 2003; 32:336-42.
- Akagi H, Naganuma A. Human exposure to mercu- ry and the accumulation of methylmercury that is associated with gold mining in the Amazon Basin, Brazil. J Health Sci 2000; 46:323-8.
- Roulet M, Lucotte M. Geochemistry of mercury in pristine and flooded ferralitic soils of a tropical rain forest in French Guiana, South America. Water Air Soil Pollut 1995; 80:1079-108.
- Roulet M, Lucotte M, Rheault I, Tran S, Farella N, Canuel R, et al. Mercury in Amazonian soils: accu- mulation and release. In: Proceedings of IV Inter- national Conference on the Geochemistry of the Earth's Surface. Leeds: University of Leeds; 1996. p. 453-7.
- Roulet M, Lucotte M, Mergler D, Guimarães JRD. The geochemistry of mercury in the central Ama- zonian soils developed on the Alter do Chao for- mation of the lower Tapajos River Valley, Para State, Brazil. Sci Total Environ 1998; 223:1-24.
- Veiga MM, Meech JA, Onate N. Mercury pollution from deforestation. Nature 1994; 368:816-7.
- Lacerda LD. Amazon mercury emissions. Nature 1995; 374:20-1.
- Hacon S, Artaxo P, Gerab F, Yamasoe MA, Campos RC, Conti LF, et al. Atmospheric mercury and trace elements in the region of Alta Floresta in the Ama- zon basin. Water Air Soil Pollut 1995; 80:273-83.
- Artaxo P, Campos RC, Fernandes ET, Martins JV, Xiao ZF, Lindqvist O, et al. Large-scale mercury and trace element measurements in the Amazon Basin. Atmos Environ 2000; 34:4085-96.
- Fearnside PM. Deforestation control in Mato Grosso: a new model for slowing the loss of Brazil's Amazon Forest. Ambio 2003; 32:343-5.
- Leino T, Lodenius M. Human hair mercury levels in the Tucurui area, state of Para, Brazil. Sci Total Environ 1995; 175:119-25.
- Kehrig HA, Malm O, Akagi H. Methylmercury in hair samples from different riverine groups, Ama- zon, Brazil. Water Air Soil Pollut 1997; 97:17-29.
- Barbosa AC, Garcia AM, Souza JR. Mercury con- tamination in hair of riverine populations of Apia- cas Reserve in the Brazilian Amazon. Water Air Soil Pollut 1997; 97:1-8.
- Vasconcellos MBA, Saiki M, Paletti G, Pinheiro RMM, Baruzzi RG, Spindel R. Determination of mercury in the head hair of Brazilian population groups by neutron-activation analysis. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 1994; 179:369-74.
- Vasconcellos MBA, Bode P, Paletti G, Catharino MGM, Ammerlaan AK, Saiki M, et al. Determina- tion of mercury and selenium in hair samples of Brazilian Indian populations living in the Amazo- nic region by NAA. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 2000; 244:81-5.
- Santos ECD, Jesus IM, Camara V, Brabo E, Lou- reiro ECB, Mascarenhas A, et al. Mercury exposure in Munduruku Indians from the community of Sai Cinza, State of Para, Brazil. Environ Res 2002; 90:98-103.
- Santos ECO, Camara VM, Jesus IM, Brabo ES, Lou- reiro ECB, Mascarenhas AFS, et al. A contribution to the establishment of reference values for total mercury levels in hair and fish in Amazonia. Envi- ron Res 2002; 90:6-11.
- Crompton P, Ventura AM, Souza JM, Santos E, Strickland GT, Silbergeld E, et al. Assessment of mercury exposure and malaria in a Brazilian Amazon riverine community. Environ Res 2002; 90:69-75.
- Barbosa AC, Boischio AA, East GA, Ferrari I, Gonçalves A, Silva PRM, et al. Mercury contamina- tion in the Brazilian Amazon. Environmental and occupational aspects. Water Air Soil Pollut 1995; 80:109-21.
- Dorea JG, Souza JR, Rodrigues P, Ferrari I, Bar- bosa AC. Hair mercury (signature of fish consump- tion) and cardiovascular risk in Munduruku and Kayabi Indians of Amazonia. Environ Res 2005; 97:209-19.
- National Research Council. Toxicological effects of methylmercury. Washington DC: National Acad- emies Press; 2000.
- Cad. Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, 24(7):1479-1492, jul, 2008
- Myers GJ, Davidson PW, Shamlaye C. A review of MeHg and child development. Neurotoxicology 1998; 19:313-28.
- Mergler D. Review of neurobehavioral deficits and river fish consumption from the Tapajós (Brazil) and St. Lawrence (Canada). Environ Toxicol Phar- macol 2002; 12:93-9.
- Grandjean P, White RF, Nielsen A. MeHg neurotox- icity in Amazonian children downstream from gold mining. Environ Health Perspect 1999; 107:587-91.
- Lebel J, Mergler D, Branches F, Lucotte M, Amorim M, Larribe F, et al. Neurotoxic effects of low-level MeHg contamination in the Amazonian basin. En- viron Res 1998; 79:20-32.
- Guimarães R, Lourenço R, Cosac S. A pesquisa em epidemiologia no Brasil. Rev Saúde Pública 2001; 35:321-40.
- Hacon S, Rochedo ER, Campos R, Rosales G, La- cerda LD. Risk assessment of mercury in Alta Flo- resta, Amazon Basin-Brazil. Water Air Soil Pollut 1997; 97:91-105.
- Harada M, Nakanishi J, Yasoda E, Pinheiro MDN, Oikawa T, Guimaraes GD, et al. Mercury pollution in the Tapajós river basin, Amazon. Mercury level of head hair and health effects. Environ Int 2001; 27:285-90.
- Jesus I, Santos ECD, Brabo ED, Loureiro ECB, Ca- mara VD, Mascarenhas AFS, et al. Exposure to ele- mental mercury in urban workers and gold miners from the Tapajós region, Para, Brazil. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 2001; 67:317-23.
- Guimaraes JRD, Meili M, Hylander LD, Silva EDE, Roulet M, Mauro JBN, et al. Mercury net methyla- tion in five tropical flood plain regions of Brazil: high in the root zone of floating macrophyte mats but low in surface sediments and flooded soils. Sci Total Environ 2000; 261:99-107.
- Maurice Bourgoin L, Quiroga JL, Guyot JL, Malm O. Mercury pollution in the upper Beni River, Am- azonian Basin: Bolivia. Ambio 1999; 28:302-6.
- Santos GM, Cordeiro R, Silva EV, Turcq B, Lacerda LD, Fifield LK, et al. Chronology of the atmospher- ic mercury in Lagoa da Pata basin, Upper Rio Ne- gro region of Brazilian Amazon. Radiocarbon 2001; 43:801-8.
- Yallouz AV, Campos RC, Paciornik S. A low-cost non-instrumental method for semiquantitative determination of mercury in fish. Fresenius J Anal Chem 2000; 366:461-5.
- Hacon SS, Farias RA, Campos RC, Argento RR, Rossi AP, Caires SM, et al. Current scenarios of hu- man exposure to mercury in the northern region of Mato Grosso, Amazon Basin. Environ Sci 2003; 10:121-34.
- Wasserman JC, Queiroz EL. The attenuation of concentrations model: a new method for assessing mercury mobility in sediments. Quim Nova 2004; 27:17-21.
- Almeida MD, Lacerda LD, Bastos WR, Herrmann JC. Mercury loss from soils following conversion from forest to pasture in Rondonia, Western Ama- zon, Brazil. Environ Pollut 2005; 137:179-86.
- Brabo ES, Angelica RS, Silva AP, Faial KRF, Masca- renhas, Santos ECO, et al. Assessment of mercury levels in soils, waters, bottom sediments and fishes of Acre state in Brazilian Amazon. Water Air Soil Pollut 2003; 147:61-77.
- Herpin U, Cerri CC, Carvalho MCS, Market B, Enzweiler J, Friese K, et al. Biogeochemical dynam- ics following land use change from forest to pas- ture in a humid tropical area (Rondonia, Brazil): a multi-element approach by means of XRF-spec- troscopy. Sci Total Environ 2002; 286:97-109.
- Cordeiro RC, Turcq B, Ribeiro MG, Lacerda LD, Capitaneo J, Silva AO, et al. Forest fire indicators and mercury deposition in an intense land use change region in the Brazilian Amazon (Alta Flo- resta, MT). Sci Total Environ 2002; 293:247-56.
- Roulet M, Lucotte M, Guimarães JRD, Rheault I. Methylmercury in water, seston, and epiphyton of an Amazonian river and its floodplain, Tapajos River, Brazil. Sci Total Environ 2000; 261:43-59.
- Santos EO, Loureiro ECB, Jesus I, Brabo ES, Silva RSU, Soares MCP, et al. Diagnóstico das condições de saúde de uma comunidade garimpeira na re- gião do Tapajos, Itaituba, Pará-Brasil. Cad Saúde Pública 1992; 11:212-25.
- Silbergeld E, Nyland J. Mercury exposures and au- toimmune disease. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 2004; 197:147. Submitted on 23/Aug/2006 Final version resubmitted on 28/Jun/2007 Approved on 03/Jul/2007
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Vasconcellos, A. C. S. D., Hallwass, G., Bezerra, J. G., Aciole, A. N. S., Meneses, H. N. D. M., Lima, M. D. O., Jesus, I. M. D., Hacon, S. D. S., & Basta, P. C. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18157940 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Hacon, S., Barrocas, P. R. G., Vasconcellos, A. C. S. D., Barcellos, C., Wasserman, J. C., Campos, R. C., Ribeiro, C., & Azevedo-Carloni, F. B.
- Affiliations
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (BR)
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brasil
- Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brasil
- Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
- Universidade Federal Fluminense (BR)
- Venue
- Cadernos de Saúde Pública
- Publisher
- FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
- Published
- 2008-07
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1479-1492
- ISSN
- 0102-311X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2101088601
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 0.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- Cadernos de Saúde Pública (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Arca - Repositório Institucional da Fiocruz (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Mercury impact and mitigation studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Heavy metals in environment
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity
- Keywords
- mercury contamination, Amazon basin, Brazil, environmental mercury, human health effects, research trends, research output, research gaps
- MeSH terms
- Brazil, Environmental Exposure, Mercury, Publishing, Soil Pollutants, Time Factors, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Rivers
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review