Levels of mercury in hair samples of residents of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, are about 10 times the nationwide average, possibly due to consumption of whale meat with a high concentration of mercury, one of the researchers who conducted the study said Thursday.

Hair samples were collected from 30 men and 20 women living in the whaling town, whose population is about 3,400, December 2007 and July 2008 for testing, said Tetsuya Endo, an associate professor at Health Sciences University of Hokkaido.

The survey showed the average total mercury levels in the men's hair samples were 21.6 parts per million and in the women's 11.9 ppm, while the levels of average Japanese men and women are 2.55 ppm and 1.43 ppm, he said.

The highest concentration level discovered in the survey was 67.2 ppm in a man in his 50s. A total of three people exceeded the level of 50 ppm set by the World Health Organization, Endo said.

Endo expressed alarm that contamination levels among some of the residents appeared to be high enough to develop health problems, according to overseas standards.

"It's necessary to conduct more detailed research on their health conditions and the current status of contamination," he said. "We should also make efforts to curb consumption of whale meat, which is highly contaminated with mercury."

The researchers, who also included Koichi Haraguchi of Daiichi College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Fukuoka, will publish the study results in an international science magazine on oceanic pollution.

According to Endo, the researchers also discovered high levels of mercury in products made from local marine mammals and fishes, including pilot whales,