β Scribed by Gary D. Christian
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
The urinary level of mercury is used as a general index of exposure to mercury. While the level of mercury is not always correlated with the severity or appearance of clinical symptoms, at least 0.15 mg I-1 of mercury is excreted once clinical symptoms have been observedk Different values have been given for normal urinary levels of mercury, such as 1 /zg/day 2 and 5-90/lg/day 3. However, the maximum normal excretion is generally considered to be 0.03 mg l-1
Electroanalytical and other chemists are constantly exposed to mercury. Because of the danger of this exposure, the author has made a practice of monitoring the urinary mercury levels of workers in his laboratory. The method of Nobel and Nobel 1 is employed. The laboratory is well ventilated and no significant levels of mercury have been observed. In specific, the level in a 29-year old worker (male) who has worked for 6 years and a 27-year old worker (male) who has worked for 3 years in the laboratory is less than 0.012 mg l-i. It appears that with well ventilated laboratories, the urinary mercury level is no higher than in non-exposed individuals and that there is little danger of mercury intoxication under ordinary conditions. However, this sampling of a single laboratory is admittedly small and it is suggested that other workers present further evidence. Conditions ofthe laboratory which might be correlated with elevated or dangerous levels of mercury should be reported when excesses of 0.03 mg I-~ of mercury are found.
π SIMILAR VOLUMES
## Abstract Rabbits were exposed to mercury vapor at concentrations from 0.03 to 10 mg Hg m^β3^ for 3 and 8 h. Mercury concentrations in urine, red blood cells and plasma, activities of several enzymes in urine, urinary protein and creatinine concentrations, and catalase activities in red blood cel