Mercury pollution due to gold mining activities in the North of Viet Nam

To obtain the basic information on human exposure to mercury (Hg) due to gold mining activities in North of Viet Nam, total mercury was determined for human hair and blood samples collected from population living in gold mining area. The results indicate that the mercury concentrations measured in 98 blood samples with ranging from 1.128 to 22.751 ppb and 65 hair samples with ranging from 0.379 to 2.440 ppm, the good correlation between concentration of mercury in hair and blood samples was found in people and the ratios of hair Hg to blood hair were 195 for males and 142 for females