Human Hair Composition in Environment Monitoring and Mapping

Abstract

The key task of the environment monitoring is to detect the present situation and to estimate the trend of the situation development. Environmental monitoring is usually carried out by sampling and analysis of rough airborne particulate matter (usually trapping and analysis of ultra-thin particles and gas-vapor phase remain out of consideration), dry and wet precipitation, surface water (liquid phase, solid phase, and bottom sediments) soil, biota (plants and animals, liquids and tissues), etc. This approach is a quite convenient and informative in smaller in size studies or in case of an environmental accident with significantly elevated levels of contaminants in vicinity of a single source of contamination. This approach is hardly acceptable for a large area characterization or mapping of the situation because of extremely temporal changeability and spatial mosaicity of the elemental composition. These difficulties need permanent or very frequent sampling and a very huge number of analyses. This is why the researchers in the life sciences are trying to find the sample, which is able to accumulate and average the environmental situation.

Lichen and mosses are very promising in this connection but in many arid regions they do not grow. There were studied possibilities to use bee-honey, cob-web, etc.

One of possible indicators of large areas mapping is human hair. Human hair composition reflects both human body elemental status and an environmental situation. Changes are “recorded” along the hair and may be dated. An important advantage is the simplicity of sampling.

In our Institute for many years studies using neutron activation analyses are carried out to map areas different in scale — single city, region, country, the whole world. Obtained maps allowed to make interesting conclusions and they are briefly considered in the present talk.

In the present contribution is shown the extremely informative mapping using hair of children (kindergarten) because much smaller scale of movement (usually the kindergartens are situated close to children houses) and absence of occupational exposures.

Very important is the possibility to compare hair elemental composition with health status. In many cases were found statistically significant correlation in hair composition and health status.