A new, advanced analyzer will make it much easier for the Environ-mental Protection Administration (EPA) to study mercury levels in the environment, as well as the metal's effects on public health.
The newly-purchased mercury analyzer, which costs NT$2 million, will mainly be operated by the administration's Environmental Analysis Laboratory.
It will be used to examine samples collected from seriously polluted rivers, such as the Erjen River in Tainan County, to map out a clear picture of the distribution of mercury in the environment.
Whereas conventional methods of measuring mercury levels in people's hair take up to five hours, the new analyzer is able to produce a result in seven minutes.
"With the efficient mercury analyzer, Taiwan's investigations into mercury levels in the environment and on the health effects of low-level exposure to mercury can be carried out efficiently," deputy EPA administrator Tsay Ting-kuei (
Hair is regarded as a meaningful and representative body tissue for the biological monitoring of most toxic metals, such as mercury and lead. Scientists have suggested that the relationship between levels of metal in hair and human health is a complex process related to exposure, absorption and tissue distribution of essential and toxic elements.
In 2000, scientists claimed that lead poisoning had caused the composer Ludwig van Beethoven's chronic illness. Beethoven died in 1827 at age 57. Researchers found unusually high levels of lead in eight strands of Beethoven's hair, with concentrations 100 times the levels of lead commonly found in people today.
Nowadays, in addition to lead, mercury has become a hot topic among Western scientists.
The chemical is found naturally in the environment in several forms. In its elemental form, mercury is a shiny, silver-white, liquid metal used in thermometers and some electrical switches. It can also be combined with other elements to form inorganic compounds.
A trial analysis has been conducted at the EPA lab. Hairs sampled from 104 people living in northern Taoyuan County were analyzed.
Results showed mercury levels ranging from 0.012ppm to 9.08ppm. The average level was 2.29ppm. The mercury level in about 24 percent of samples exceeded 1ppm, a reference level set by the US.
In a survey conducted early this year in the US involving 1,449 samples, the hair mercury level in only 20.3 percent of targets exceeded 1ppm.
"This doesn't mean that Taiwanese are exposed to higher levels of mercury in the environment. We need to increase the number of our samples to more than 1,000 in order to get more scientific results," said Wang Cheng-hsung (
Wang said that it is still uncertain which factors cause higher mercury levels in hair, but a link to age and diet could not be ruled out.
"We found that the hair mercury levels of elderly people and those who eat lots of fish are higher," Wang said.
EPA officials said that the main sources of mercury in the environment are incineration, the steel industry, the cement industry and waste treatment.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A mountain blaze that broke out yesterday morning in Yangmingshan National Park was put out after five hours, following multi agency efforts involving dozens of fire trucks and helicopter water drops. The fire might have been sparked by an air quality sensor operated by the National Center for High-Performance Computing, one of the national-level laboratories under the National Applied Research Laboratories, Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters said. The Taipei City Fire Department said the fire, which broke out at about 11am yesterday near the mountainous Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) Recreation Area was extinguished at 4:32pm. It had initially dispatched 72 personnel in four command vehicles, 16
RSS