Total Mercury Content of Skin Toning Creams and the Potential Risk to the Health of Women In Ghana

The use of mercury containing skin toning creams is becoming increasingly popular among darkskinned women. The prolonged use of them over the years may cause serious health effects. In the study sixty nine (69) samples of skin toning creams were analysed for total mercury by cold vapour atomic absorption spectrophotometry using an automatic mercury analyzer. The concentration of mercury in the creams ranged from below 0.001 to 0.311 μg g-1. All the creams sampled had concentrations less than the US Food and Drug Administration's acceptable limit of 1 μg g-1. The low concentrations of mercury detected in the cream samples analysed therefore do not pose any potential mercury related health risk to the population particularly women Keywords: mercury, skin toning cream, women, health Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 28 (1) 2008 pp. 88-9

Total Mercury Distribution in Different Fish Species Representing Different Trophic levels from the Atlantic Coast of Ghana

Concentrations of total mercury (Hg) were measured in the edible muscle tissues of different fish species representing different trophic levels from the Atlantic Coast of Ghana using Cold Vapour Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (CVAAS). Mercury concentrations were gener-ally found to increase with trophic levels. The concentrations of the metal (Hg) were highest (mean=0.093 μg g-1) in high trophic level predatory fish, followed by middle trophic level preda-tory fish (mean=0.063 μg g-1) and low trophic level fish (mean=0.047 μg g-1). However the differ-ences were not significant at the 0.05 level according to ANOVA. All fish species analysed in this study had total mercury concentrations (range: 0.001-0.278 μg g-1) less than the FAO/WHO limit of 0.5 μg g-1 wet weight. The low concentrations of mercury in the fish species obtained in this study do not appear to contribute any significant mercury exposure to the general popula-tion; and suggest a relatively clean marine environment that has not yet been significantly im-pacted by mercury contamination probably due to minimal industrial activity in the region.Keywords: Mercury; Fish; Atlantic Coast; Ghana; Trophic leve

Sorption of inorganic mercury on soils from Ankobra basin in the south - western part of Ghana

Understanding the adsorption of mercury on soil from aqueous solution is necessary for tracing the fate of mercury in the environment. This study was undertaken to predict the fate of mercury emitted from artisanal gold mining activities within the Ankobra basin. Total mercury (THg)  concentrations were determined in soils close to River Ankobra and its major tributaries in the south-western part of Ghana by Cold Vapour Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. THg content of the soils ranged from 0.051 ìgg-1 to 0.366 ìgg-1 with an average of 0.15 ìgg-1 which was below the level (200 ìgg-1) set by US EPA. THg correlated positively (r = 0.57) with the organic matter content of the soil. Sorption of Hg (II) onto the soils had an L - type isotherm and the distribution coefficient (Kd) ranged from 41.4 ìgg-1 to 182.2 ìgg-1. The Freundlich model showed a better fit followed by Langmuir model and linear. The superiority of Freundlich modelto the other models could be attributed to the heterogeneous surface energies and exponential distribution of active sites which are  characteristics of such soils. All the soils had adsorption intensity (n) lower than one, indicating the soils could be good sorbent for Hg (II). This suggests that Hg fate and availability in soil for runoff and leaching could be low for soils with such characteristics.Keywords: Mercury, Isotherms, Ankobra Basin, soi

Chemical Fractionation of Lead, Copper, Zinc and Cadmium in Soils along the Highway From Tafo to Aboaso in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

Knowledge of the mobility and bioavailability of heavy metals in soils is necessary for the design of remediation processes and the establishment of environmental guidelines for heavy metal pollution. Single extractions were used to fractionate four heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd) from a total of fifty-four roadside soil samples into four operationally defined groups: acid soluble, reducible, organic and residual fractions. Pb was mostly bound to the reducible fraction (51.14%). The next most important fraction for Pb was the residual fraction (21.98%) followed by the acid soluble fraction (14.15%) then the organic fraction (12.73%). Zn was mostly associated with the residual fraction (48.37%). The percentages of Zn bound to the reducible and acid soluble fractions were 38.95% and 6.64% respectively. The organic fraction contained 6.04% of total Zn. The trend of Cu distribution among the fractions was: organic fraction  (48.59%), reducible fraction (25.61%), residual fraction (20.58%) and acid soluble fraction (5.01%) while that of Cd was: reducible fraction (45.09%), the acid soluble fraction (34.71%), residual fraction (20.19%) and organic fraction (0.00%). The percentage of the metals which were found to be bioavailable and the order of potential bioavailability was: Cu (79.21%) > Cd (79.16%) > Pb (77.97%) > Zn (51.55%)

Effect of municipal sewage effluent on soil and crops cultivated on a hyper-arid zone sandy soil

The effects of sewage effluent from Sebha Municipal Area in the Fezzan region of Libya on certain physicochemical properties of a hyper-arid zone sandy soil and growth of two plants were studied. The soil had been treated daily with 25, 50, 75 and 100% effluent; and barley (Hordeum vulgare) and broad beans (Vicia faba) had been grown on the soils in pots. Soil samples were analysed for water-soluble salts, electrical conductivity, cation exchange capacity, pH, organic matter, sodium, potassium and phosphorus. At all the concentrations of effluent used there was a significant increase in all the soil properties tested. The greatest changes were observed with 100% effluent. The soils supporting crops were found to have lower concentrations of nutrients than those without crops. There was an increase in dry matter production by plants grown in effluent treated soils. The results indicate that sewage effluent could be considered as one of the possible and alternate sources of irrigation water