Environmental Research Section A 83, 110 } 116 (2000) doi:10.1006/enrs.1999.4034, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on A Program for the Control of Indoor Pollution by Metallic Mercury 1 Volney de M. Ca 9 mara,* Lydia Maria B. Tavares,- Maria Izabel de F. Filhote,* Olaf Malm,* and Maurm H cio de A. Perez* * NESC, CCS, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Brigadeiro Trompowsky S.N., Rio de Janeiro, 21941-570, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and - SESMT?Para H , 78000-000 Cuiaba, Mato Grosso, Brazil Received July 1, 1999 The objective of this study was to develop an edu- cational program for preventing metallic mercury emissions due to the burning of mercury+gold amal- gams inside houses. The main participants were adolescents from a school in the city of Pocone H , State of Mato Grosso. The program was developed in Ave stages, including discussions of the methods and exhibition of slides showing people working in activities including the garimpos, planning activ- ities as dramatizations, making posters and prepar- ing a screenplay for the production of a video, discussing how to prevent indoor burning of gold+mercury amalgams, and a Anal evaluation of the adolescents about what they had learned during the program. The evaluation of the impact was done through a comparison of correct answers from a questionnaire before and after the development of the educational activities and by means of a com- parison of urinary mercury in school students and a group of residents (women) at three different times: before the program (2.30 g/L), 6 months after (2.90 g/L), and 11 months after (1.49 g/L).  2000 Academic Press Key Words: Mercury; epidemiology; adolescents; education; indoor. INTRODUCTION The main objective of the present study was to promote assessment of an educational program for adolescents from a junior high school and for low- income women living in the city of Pocone H , State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. This program aims to identify This paper was presented at Mercury as a Global Pollutant: 5th International Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 23 } 28, 1999.  Financial support was provided by UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and CNPq (‘‘Conselho Nacional de Desenvol- vimento Cientm H 7co e Tecnolo H gico’’). This project was conducted in accordance with the National Council of Health of the Ministry of Health guidelines (Resolution 196/96) for the protection of human subjects. health risks and to discuss the prevention of mer- cury emissions caused by indoor burning of mer- cury}gold amalgams. A previous study was conducted with 365 inhabit- ants of this city, mainly women and children (workers were excluded) exposed to mercury emis- sions from gold shops. Mercury levels measured in urine samples of residents from an area named COHAB (n"125) had a mean value of 4.89 g/L, and 13 individuals from four families had mercury urine levels higher than 10 g/L (up to 86.0 g/L). These four houses also showed higher mercury levels in dust (up to 80.66 ppm) and soil (up to 9.8 ppm) than another area used as control (dust"0.25 ppm and soil"0.27 ppm). These residents with very high levels admitted that someone in the family, not included in the study, burned mercury}gold amal- gams in the kitchen of their houses (Ca 9 mara et al., 1996). In this municipality, low methyl mercury levels were not found in 7sh (Malm and Guimara  es, 1996). Preventive programs for urban populations ex- posed to elemental mercury in the Amazon exist for two main reasons. First, there is a lack of studies regarding the health effects of mercury on nonoc- cupationally exposed personnel. Investigations are usually focused on occupational exposure in gold mining sites and inside the gold shops. Non- occupationally exposed populations are usually studied only through the view of methyl mercury exposure. Second, there are many gold shops in ur- ban areas, including medium-sized cities such as Itaituba, Va H rzea Grande, and Porto Velho (Ca 9 mara et al., 1996). High priority was given to the implementation of prevention measures with the adolescent groups. These groups promote the dissemination of this in- formation, and they are in stages of physical and psychological development and thus more likely to 110 0013-9351/00 $35.00 Copyright  2000 by Academic Press All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.