| Assessing Elemental Mercury Vapor Exposure from Cultural and Religious Practices Donna M. Riley,1 C. Alison Newby,2 Tomas O. Leal-Almeraz,3 and Valerie M. Thomas4 1Picker Engineering Program, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, USA; 2Department of Sociology and Anthropology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA; 3Santero, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA; 4Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA Abstract
Use of elemental mercury in certain cultural and religious practices can cause high exposures to mercury vapor. Uses include sprinkling mercury on the floor of a home or car, burning it in a candle, and mixing it with perfume. Some uses can produce indoor air mercury concentrations one or two orders of magnitude above occupational exposure limits. Exposures resulting from other uses, such as infrequent use of a small bead of mercury, could be well below currently recognized risk levels. Metallic mercury is available at almost all of the 15 botanicas visited in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, but botanica personnel often deny having mercury for sale when approached by outsiders to these religious and cultural traditions. Actions by public health authorities have driven the mercury trade underground in some locations. Interviews indicate that mercury users are aware that mercury is hazardous, but are not aware of the inhalation exposure risk. We argue against a crackdown by health authorities because it could drive the practices further underground, because high-risk practices may be rare, and because uninformed government intervention could have unfortunate political and civic side effects for some Caribbean and Latin American immigrant groups. We recommend an outreach and education program involving religious and community leaders, botanica personnel, and other mercury users. Key words: cultural, exposure, mercury, religious, Santeria. Environ Health Perspect 109:779-784 (2001) . [Online 1 August 2001] http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2001/109p779-784riley/ abstract.html Address correspondence to D.M. Riley, Picker Engineering Program, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063 USA. Telephone: (413) 585-7003. Fax: (413) 585-7001. E-mail: driley@smith.edu We thank C. Rosado for his assistance with interviews, A. Bocarsly for the use of his laboratory, and the members of the U.S. EPA Task Force on Ritualistic Uses of Mercury for their contributions to this work. We are also indebted to three reviewers whose comments improved this paper. This work was supported by a Clayton Postdoctoral Fellowship. Received 1 September 2000 ; accepted 8 February 2001.
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