2004 Volume 15 Issue 3 Pages 268-271
Daily bromine intake in Ukrainian subjects was estimated in relation to the health effects on habitants after the Chernobyl accident. Total diets were colleted from 106 locations for children and adult males by the duplicate portion methods. Bromine was rapidly determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) after chemical separation using a combustion apparatus. Median concentration of bromine on a dry basis for Ukrainians was 6.98 μg per g. Daily bromine intake for Ukrainians was in the range of 0.49-12.5 mg per person. The median, geometric mean and standard deviation were 2.12, 2.23 and 1.84 mg per person, respectively. The yearly trend of the intake had almost no change. Regional difference would expect to exist among 10 areas of Ukraine, but no clear difference appeared in the present findings. For Japanese, the median, geometric mean and standard deviation were 10.4, 10.5 and 1.3 mg per person, respectively; the geometric mean was approximately five times higher than that of Ukrainians. The higher values of Japanese suggested environmental contamination by pesticides and other chemicals within Japan.
