Mercury from Gas Regulators

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[press release from EHP media]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, February 28, 2006

*Study Identifies Potential Residential Mercury Threat*

Report in /Environmental Health Perspectives/ details exposure from

replacement of older gas regulators in the home

[Research Triangle Park, NC] Careless replacement of older gas

regulators can result in household mercury contamination, according to a

study recently accepted for publication in /Environmental Health

Perspectives/. Residents in Chicago were exposed to mercury in 2000 when

a gas company removed and replaced their gas regulators and meters.

Urine analysis later revealed the presence of mercury in some of these

individuals.

Gas regulators reduce pressure from main gas feeder lines to household

pipes. Although newer gas regulators do not contain mercury, units made

before 1961 contained an average of 2 teaspoons of elemental mercury and

were often installed in basements. When these older units are replaced,

the mercury can spill onto the floor, and residents can inhale the

mercury vapor. In a 2001 inspection of 361,000 Chicago homes where old

gas regulators had been replaced, a total of 1,363 homes were found to

be contaminated.

In the current study, the researchers studied urine samples of 625

residents of the contaminated Chicago homes who elected to undergo

mercury screenings. Nine of the residents (1.4%) had a 24-hour urine

mercury concentration equal to or higher than 10 µg/L. None of the

individuals overt symptoms of mercury poisoning, but the screenings were

not designed to detect subclinical effects of mercury exposure.

Even though air mercury concentrations were considerably higher in

basements, where the spills typically occurred, positive urine mercury

in residents was most strongly associated with air mercury

concentrations on the first floor of the homes examined. The authors

attribute this finding to people generally spending less time in their

basements.

The authors note that gas companies and their contractors, clinicians,

public health and environmental officials, and residents all need to be

aware of the potential for contamination in older homes or other

buildings where mercury-containing gas regulators have been replaced in

the past, or where they may still exist. They also write that

" guidelines and protocols developed for this Chicago-area response may

be helpful tools for public health officials who may be faced with

developing future public health responses to large-scale residential

mercury exposures. "

The lead author of the study was Hryhorczuk of the Great Lakes

Center for Children's Environmental Health. The other authors were

Persky, Piorkowski, , C. Moomey,

Anne Krantz, Ken D. Runkle, Tiffanie Saxer, Baughman, and Ken

McCann. Funding for the study was provided by the Association of

Occupational and Environmental Clinics, the Agency for Toxic Substances

and Disease Registry, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The

article is available free of charge at

http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/8401/abstract.html.

EHP is published by the National Institute of Environmental Health

Sciences (NIEHS), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services. EHP is an Open Access journal. More information is available

online at *http://www.ehponline.org/*. Brogan & Partners Convergence

Marketing handles marketing and public relations for EHP, and is

responsible for distribution of this press release.

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CONTACT: Jim Tobin, 919-653-2582

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