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Spatial and Temporal Trends in Contamination of the Czech Part of the Elbe River by Mercury Between 1991 and 2016

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Abstract

We summarized available data concerning contamination of the Czech part of the Elbe River by mercury and assessed the potential risks to humans connected with the consumption of contaminated fish. Total mercury concentrations were evaluated in dorsal muscle of chub (Squalius cephalus) and bream (Abramis brama) that were collected at 11 sampling sites in the period from 1991 to 2016. Significant differences among sites were found for both species. The highest contamination was observed near the non-ferrous Kovohute metal works at Celakovice and also downstream from the Spolana chemical plant at Neratovice. A significant decline in contamination with time (concentrations decreasing from 1.65 to 0.22 mg kg−1; p = 0.004) was revealed in chub downstream from the Spolana plant. Calculated hazard indices (HIs) were below 1, therefore, adverse health effects on the general Czech population connected with the consumption of fish from the Elbe River were not expected.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the internal funding agency of the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno (Project FVHE/Vecerek/ITA2020). Further support was provided by the RECETOX research infrastructure (the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports; LM2018121) and CETOCOEN EXCELLENCE Teaming 2 project (Horizon 2020; 857560 and the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports; 02.1.01/0.0/0.0/18_046/0015975). Authors would like to thank Mr. Matthew Nicholls for English corrections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Protection and Welfare and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Palackeho tr. 1946/1, 612 42, Brno, Czech Republic

    Kamila Novotna, Zdenka Svobodova & Premysl Mikula

  2. RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 753/5, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Danka Harustiakova

  3. Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 126/3, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Danka Harustiakova

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  1. Kamila Novotna
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  2. Zdenka Svobodova
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  3. Danka Harustiakova
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  4. Premysl Mikula
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Correspondence to Premysl Mikula.

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Novotna, K., Svobodova, Z., Harustiakova, D. et al. Spatial and Temporal Trends in Contamination of the Czech Part of the Elbe River by Mercury Between 1991 and 2016. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 105, 750–757 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-020-03005-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-020-03005-6

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