Anti-smoking legislation and its effects on urinary cotinine and cadmium levels.

Anti-smoking legislation has been associated with an improvement in health indicators. Since the cadmium (Cd) body burden in the general population is markedly increased by smoke exposure, we analyzed the impact of the more restrictive legislation that came into force in Spain in 2011 by measuring Cd and cotinine in first morning urine samples from 83 adults in Madrid (Spain) before (2010) and after (2011) introduction of this law. Individual pair-wise comparisons showed a reduction of creatinine corrected Cotinine and Cd levels for non-active smokers, i. e. those which urinary cotinine levels are below 50 µg/L. After the application of the stricter law, cotinine levels in urine only decreased in non-active smokers who self-reported not to be exposed to second-hand smoke. The reduction in second hand smoke exposure was significantly higher in weekends (Friday to Sunday) than in working days (Monday to Thursday). The decrease in U-Cd was highly significant in non-active smokers and, in general, correlated with lower creatinine excretion. Therefore correction by creatinine could bias urinary Cd results, at least for cotinine levels higher than 500 µg/L. The biochemical/toxicological benefits detected herein support the stricter application of anti-smoking legislation and emphasize the need to raise the awareness of the population as regards exposure at home.

Mercury, lead and cadmium levels in the urine of 170 Spanish adults: a pilot human biomonitoring study.

Human biomonitoring is a well-recognized tool for estimating the exposure of human populations to environmental pollutants. However, information regarding biomarker concentrations of many environmental chemicals in the general population is limited for many countries. The Spanish Environment Ministry has recently funded a human biomonitoring study on the Spanish general population. This study aims to determine reference levels for several biomarkers, especially heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and cotinine, in urine, whole blood, serum and hair, and will involve 2000 volunteers throughout Spain. Samples were taken during 2009-2010 and analyses are currently underway. The results presented herein were obtained in a pilot study carried out in the Madrid region. The study group comprised 170 volunteers, of which 79% were female and 21% male (age: 23-66 years). All participants were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding diet and living habits and provides a morning urine sample. The geometric means for total mercury (Hg), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) were 1.23, 1.11 and 0.25 µg/g creatinine, respectively. Levels of Pb and Hg were higher than those reported for the general population in the USA and Germany, whereas Cd was in the same range (CDC, 2009; Becker et al., 2003). The values reported here are similar to those reported in other Spanish studies.