Overview
This 2025 cross-sectional study from the Bihar Gangetic plains documents extensive mercury contamination in lactating women’s breast milk, with 74% of samples exceeding WHO guideline limits. The study uses geospatial analysis to map exposure clusters.
Key numbers
Key finding: 74% of lactating mothers had breast milk mercury levels exceeding WHO guideline limits.
Sample sizes: 224 lactating mothers; 172 infants.
Matrices measured: breast milk, maternal blood, maternal urine, dietary food samples from the study region.
(Detailed concentration values, means, and ranges were not fully extractable from the Marker-converted file; see raw/markdown/FM_11971891/FM_11971891.md for full tables.)
Methods
BMC Public Health cross-sectional study design. Total mercury (tHg) by AAS or ICP-MS (method not specified in excerpt). Geospatial mapping of Hg contamination clusters.
Bihar Gangetic plains note: the same region was documented in Kumar 2024 (FM_11415992) for extreme arsenic exposure. Mercury contamination in this area likely reflects industrial discharge and artisanal gold mining activities along tributaries.
Implications
Health: 74% exceedance of WHO breast milk Hg guidelines in this population is a serious finding. Maternal dietary mercury exposure — likely from contaminated fish in the Ganges tributaries — appears to be the primary driver.
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Update history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.
| Commit | Date | Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| a8052bb | 2026-08-09 | major | 6 sections added; narrative text revised |