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Assessment of the mercury concentrations in soil and vegetation, including crops,

Project Code: C02070

27/04/2009

University of Liverpool
Wood, M ; Leah, R;
Enviros Consulting Ltd
Punt, A

Executive Summary

The Food Standards Agency (FSA), hereafter referred to as the Agency, has a duty
to ensure that the public’s health is protected in relation to food. Therefore, the
Agency must be in a position to advise consumers about the risks presented by
particular food contamination scenarios. One such scenario is the risk from
consuming produce grown in the vicinity of crematoria, due to the potential elevation
of mercury concentrations in these crops that has originated from dental amalgam
(which is approximately 50% mercury by weight).

There are over 245 crematoria in the UK and approximately 75% of the UK
population are cremated. The number of individuals cremated each year has risen
from 3, in 1885, to over 440,000 in 2004. The factors relating quantity of dental
amalgam cremated to number of individuals are probably complex, but the quantity of
dental amalgam burnt has almost certainly increased over a similar period.
Consequently, the annual emission of mercury to the environment from crematoria
will also have increased. It has been estimated that crematoria will be the single
biggest contributor to national mercury emissions by 2020.

This study aimed to quantify the risks associated with consuming crops grown in the
vicinity of crematoria, due to potential mercury contamination, and to provide the
underpinning evidence to support Agency advice and guidance on this subject. The
study had the following core objectives:

• To undertake a desk study to determine the extent of knowledge on mercury
concentrations in the environment around crematoria
• To develop a robust screening methodology for crematoria and to identify
sites suitable for field sampling
• To undertake a sample collection and analysis programme to quantify the
concentrations of mercury in soil and vegetation (including crops and other
foodstuffs) around two predicted high mercury emission crematoria
(Bournemouth Crematorium and Landican Crematorium)
• To undertake an assessment of the risks to human health from consuming
crops grown in the vicinity of crematoria

The results of both the Bournemouth Crematorium and Landican Crematorium
studies show the mercury concentrations measured in samples collected in the
vicinity of both crematoria to be low and within the range of concentrations reported
by other studies as typical of the UK rural environment. There is a detectable
increase in mercury concentrations around both crematoria (within 100m of the
emission stacks) but these are still within the range that may be described as typical
of the UK background and are at the low end of concentrations reported in the few
previous studies of mercury around crematoria.

A highly conservative risk assessment has demonstrated that the potential exposure
of members of the public to mercury arising from crematoria stack emissions via
foodstuff consumption is almost certainly indistinguishable from the existing
background concentrations of mercury existing in the UK population diet. It is
concluded that there is no discernable impact of mercury emissions from crematoria
on human health via foodstuff consumption.

Final Report

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