Determining mercury in human bones using the CV AAS technique

We analyzed the content of mercury in the bones of people living in a highly industrial region and therefore exposed to heavy metals. Cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry was used to determine mercury while the samples were prepared using the mineralization by microwave digestion system. In analyzed samples mercury values lower than 5 ng to 0.26 ppm were found. In bone samples taken from people exposed to heavy metals the values were higher than in the control group. A correlation between the mercury content and other toxic metals (Cd, Pb) was noticed.