Award Date

1-1-2003

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Environmental Science

First Committee Member

Shawn L. Gerstenberger

Number of Pages

191

Abstract

Due to the ubiquitous nature of mercury in the environment, an increase in potential human health risks arises from exposure to different media. The Great Lakes region, for instance, is an area of known mercury pollution. This project examines the relationship between fish consumption of a sensitive human population and the concentration of mercury in humans using information obtained from the Ojibwa Health Study hair samples and questionnaires, this study focused on the species of fish, the amount of fish, the size of fish, and the geographic source of fish consumed. Also, human factors, such as years of eating Great Lakes fish, gender, height, and weight, were examined. Statistical analysis determined several exposure assessment variables for Ojibwa. Mean hair mercury concentrations was 1.82, with a standard deviation of 7.06. Analysis showed poor correlations between of the variables and their association with hair mercury concentrations.

Keywords

Associated; Bioaccumulation; Consumption; Factors; Fish; Following; Great; Hair; Human; Lakes; Mercury; Region

Controlled Subject

Toxicology; Environmental sciences; Aquatic sciences

File Format

pdf

File Size

4659.2 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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