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To the Editor: The article by Dr Davidson and colleagues¹ presents an important public health issue but is uninformative for several reasons. The mercury (Hg) content of the mother's hair was used as an indicator of fetal exposure to methylmercury (MeHg). However, a study in the Faroe Islands² showed that this biomarker does not correlate closely with the Hg that has reached the fetal circulation. As expected, the cord-blood concentration is a better overall predictor of neurobehavioral risks.³

Exposures other than Hg may also have affected the neurobehavioral performance in the Seychelles. The authors considered only polychlorinated biphenyls in some postnatal serum samples. More important is prenatal exposures to pesticide residues, eg, from tropical fruit and vegetables, especially in mothers who ate less fish during pregnancy.

At a joint meeting of Hg researchers in 1994, we presented current criteria for selection of neurobehavioral tests as they pertain to MeHg.⁴ Unfortunately, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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RELATED ARTICLE

Effects of Prenatal and Postnatal Methylmercury Exposure From Fish Consumption on Neurodevelopment: Outcomes at 66 Months of Age in the Seychelles Child Development Study
Philip W. Davidson, Gary J. Myers, Christopher Cox, Catherine Axtell, Conrad Shamlaye, Jean Sloane-Reeves, Elsa Cernichiari, Larry Needham, Anna Choi, Yining Wang, Maths Berlin, and Thomas W. Clarkson
JAMA. 1998;280(8):701-707.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

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