Approximately 2700 – 6000 tons of mercury are released into the at mosphere annually. Once airborne, mercury can travel thousand mile s from its generation point. Eventually, it precipitates onto the l and and water. And once it enters water, mercury is transformed by microorganisms into methylmercury, the most toxic and dangerous for m of mercury. Exposure to high dosage of methylmercury can cause tremors, inabili ty to walk, convulsions and even death. Children exposed to the mercury show a variety of abnormalities such as delayed onset of walking and talking, cerebra l palsy, and slowed neurological reflexes and learning abilities. One of the best indicators of exposure to mercury is testing for co ncentration in hair and blood. The average concentration of mercur y in non-exposed people is about 8 ppb in blood and 2 ppm in hair Mercury has traditionally been measured in hair, blood, tissues, an d urine by CVAAS (Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry), which is a time and labor consuming method that relies on complicat ed wet chemistry sample preparation. The DMA-80 Direct Mercury Analyzer from Milestone eliminates the sa mple preparation step, allowing you to rapidly process your samples in m inutes, instead of the hours needed for traditional methods. This r apid testing (which is as accurate, if not more so, that CVAAS) giv es you the answers you need without consuming valuable time and eff ort. Other benefits include: Process both liquid and solid samples – no matter how difficult th e matrix you will get an accurate total mercury reading. The built-in 40-position autosampler allows unattended operation fo r a large number of samples The DMA-80 is portable enough to be stationed where you need it mos t; in your laboratory, in a portable testing van, etc... No chemicals are used in the process so no additional toxic wastes are generated. Completely compatible with US EPA Method 7473