revised final - Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ...

MERCURY 417
5. POTENTIAL FOR HUMAN EXPOSURE
during the 2-year study and involved individual analysis of 234 food items representing the diets of 8
different population groups. Mercury was detected in 129 adult foods; seafood, the major contributing
food group, accounted for 77% (3.01 µg of the 3.9 µg of mercury) of the total mercury intake for 25–30
year old males (Gunderson 1988). Minyard and Roberts (1991) reported results of a survey conducted on
food samples analyzed at 10 state food laboratories between 1988 and 1989. These laboratories conducted
food regulatory programs and analyzed findings of pesticides and related chemical residues for 27,065
food samples. In 1988, these laboratories reported methylmercury residues in 13 (0.09%) of 13,980
samples, with 1 sample exceeding federal or state tolerances. Similarly, in 1989, methylmercury was
detected in 25 (0.19%) of 13,085 samples, with 1 sample exceeding federal or state tolerances. A survey
of 220 cans of tuna, conducted in 1991 by the FDA, found an average methylmercury content (expressed
as mercury) of 0.17 ppm (range,