Development of Human Hair Reference Material Supporting the Biomonitoring of Methylmercury.

A certified reference material, NIMD-01, was developed for the analysis of mercury speciation in human hair. We collected the hair of Vietnamese males from a barbershop in Hanoi in 2016 and prepared 1200 bottles containing 3 g of sieved and blended hair powder. The certified value was given on a dry-mass basis, with the moisture content obtained by drying at 85°C for 4 h.

Atmospheric mercury concentrations observed at ground-based monitoring sites globally distributed in the framework of the GMOS network.

Long-term monitoring of data of ambient mercury (Hg) on a global scale to assess its emission, transport, atmospheric chemistry, and deposition processes is vital to understanding the impact of Hg pollution on the environment. The Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) project was funded by the European Commission (http://www.gmos.

A compilation of field surveys on gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) from contrasting environmental settings in Europe, South America, South Africa and China: separating fads from facts.

Mercury is transported globally in the atmosphere mostly in gaseous elemental form (GEM, [Formula: see text]), but still few worldwide studies taking into account different and contrasted environmental settings are available in a single publication. This work presents and discusses data from Argentina, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Chile, China, Croatia, Finland, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Slovenia and Venezuela. We classified the information in four groups: (1) mining districts where this contaminant poses or has posed a risk for human populations and/or ecosystems; (2) cities, where the concentration of atmospheric mercury could be higher than normal due to the burning of fossil fuels and industrial activities; (3) areas with natural emissions from volcanoes; and (4) pristine areas where no anthropogenic influence was apparent.

Rapid monitoring of mercury in air from an organic chemical factory in China using a portable mercury analyzer.

A chemical factory, using a production technology of acetaldehyde with mercury catalysis, was located southeast of Qingzhen City in Guizhou Province, China. Previous research showed heavy mercury pollution through an extensive downstream area. A current investigation of the mercury distribution in ambient air, soils, and plants suggests that mobile mercury species in soils created elevated mercury concentrations in ambient air and vegetation.