[10 years of observation by public health offices in Baden-Württemberg--assessment of human biomonitoring for mercury due to dental amalgam fillings and other sources]. / 10 Jahre Beobachtungsgesundheitsämter in Baden-Württemberg--Beurteilung der Human-Biomonitoring-Untersuchungen bezüglich der Quecksilber-Belastung durch Amalgamfüllungen und andere Quellen.

Since 1992, in Baden-Württemberg, ten-year old children have been surveyed in the project "Sentinel Health Departments" to study their exposure to environmental pollutants and possible health effects. In the four study areas 1200 children have been investigated every year initially, since 1996 every second year. The data for mercury in body fluids are reported here. The decrease in the body burden of mercury as a result of the declining usage of dental amalgam fillings, was been verified. In 1992/93, of all the children who had been surveyed, the 95 percentile for the body burden of mercury was 3.1 microg/l and in 2000/01 1.35 microg/l. Also to be discussed is the reason why mercury-based cosmetic ointments seriously exceed the HBM-II-intervention-value. Because of using these ointments, concentrations of mercury in urine up to 1400 microg/l were found. A study within the project "Sentinel Health Departments" compared the concentrations of mercury in the urine of adults with those in blood and salvia. The results support the opinion that mercury in urine is appropriate for estimating the mercury uptake from dental amalgam fillings. It can be assumed that these results reflect the situation in the entire Federal Republic of Germany. The ten years' experience confirms that the concept of the "Sentinel Health Departments" is excellently suited to obtain data relevant for environmental health of children. Environmental health protection and the essential gathering of data for future health observation in Baden-Württemberg.

[Poisoning of a family by a mercury-containing ointment]. / Vergiftung in einer Familie durch eine quecksilberhaltige Salbe.

Within the framework of a project entitled "Observation by Public Health Offices" we discovered a strikingly high mercury concentration of 30 micrograms in the urine of a 10-year old girl from an Albanian family formerly residing in the Kosovo area in Serbia. We investigated into the cause of this mercury load and found that it was also present in other members of the same family. Symptoms of mercury poisoning were evident to varying degrees in individual family members. Ultimately, we traced the source to a bleaching ointment containing mercury. On analysing the same we found a mercury content of 389 mg per g ointment. The use of this ointment with its extremely high mercury content had also contaminated the living-rooms.