Comparison of concentrations of mercury in ambient air to its accumulation by leafy vegetables: an important step in terrestrial food chain analysis.

A biomonitoring network with leafy vegetables was established near a chlor-alkali plant in order to compare the accumulation of mercury to the atmospheric total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentration. Based on data obtained in the reference area the 'normal' mercury concentration in vegetables is between 0.6 and 5.4 microg kg(-1) FW. The effect detection limits (EDLs) are between 1.2 and 11.0 microg kg(-1) FW and the biological detection limits (BDLs), the lowest [TGM] that can be detected significantly, are between 3 and 4 ng m(-3). The accumulation rate is lowest for lettuce and high for curly kale that proved to be an excellent accumulator and as such it is very useful for biomonitoring purposes. A comparison made in the 1980s between biomonitoring results with grass and the mercury concentration in leafy vegetables from private gardens nearby proved to be valid when applied to the current biomonitoring results with vegetables.