A Short Note On Methyl Mercury And Its Effects On Human Health

With the well-being of future generations in mind, environmental concerns have begun to establish a permanent residence atop the priority ladder for a vast array of Americans. Consequently, writers and political pundits alike are seizing this opportunity to capitalize on advocating their stance on the issue. Information, representing all positions, pours in at an unrelenting and unfathomable rate. For the average American it can be an arduous process sifting through all the rhetoric in attempt to find the real truth regarding our impact as humans on the environment; one such example is Susan Brown’s article The EPA’s Mercury Problem. In this article Brown attempts to expose hypocrisy among progressives by paralleling the Environmental Protection

Mercury is a heavy metal with serious side effects like heart problems, digestive imbalance, loss of memory, breathing problems, ADD, depression, etc.

3. The EPA “safe dose” for mercury is 1,100 ppb (parts per billion) for women in their child-bearing years, as mercury levels above this value may impair neurological development in the fetus. Which

An element on the Periodic Table called mercury was used in various ways, and this element proved to be both fatal, yet beneficial at the same time. According to an article, “The Mad Hatter Syndrome: mercury and biological toxicity”, by Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D., the author stated, “A mercury solution was commonly used during the process of turning fur into felt, which caused the hatters to breathe in the fumes of this highly toxic metal, a situation exacerbated by the poor ventilation in most of the workshops,” (Connealy). These hatters eventually developed a disease called mad hatter disease. If the people had known that mercury was a lethal element, they would have had safety regulations or substituted mercury with another safe element to make the hats. Also, according to the same article, French dentists in the late 1800s mixed mercury with silver to bond the amalgams at room temperature. These dentists had a lack of knowledge concerning the health effects of mercury inside a person. The mercury inside these patients’ mouths put them at an exceedingly high risk of mad hatter disease. This lack of knowledge caused society to be at high risk of spreading

Although there have been improvements in the safety of fungicides, many still contain potentially dangerous compounds. Although commercial mercury has been replaced in fungicides, "the possibility of exposure to environmental sources of organic methylmercury still exists," which can negatively impact upon human health, such as when fish that have accumulated the toxin within their body are consumed (Hasan 2010: 358). Because fungicides are often used in combinations with other chemicals, the toxicity of the fungicide may be unexpectedly high (Hasan 2010: 358). For example, "recommended field application rates of Propiconazole are considered too low to kill a substantial number of bees, but when mixed with

Wrangell-St Elias is one in four Alaskan national parks that tested positive for mercury. In some cases the levels exceeded the State of Alaska’s human consumption levels of mercury for women and children. The test was part of a multi-year U.S. geological survey and study of fish in high elevation lakes and streams. Mercury was found in all fish and can be harmful to other fish, wildlife, humans etc. The mercury was found in fish in Copper, Tanada, and Summit Lakes. Consuming high amounts of mercury can damage developing brains in babies and

While liquid gold may be a modern allegory for something desirable, there is another liquid metal that is quite the opposite of desirable. Mercury is an unusual metal in that in its standard elemental form it is a liquid. Due to the increase in industry over the last 100 years, Mercury levels have risen, which cause serious damage to humans.

Hat manufacturers once used a bright orange mercury wash to separate fur from pelts, and the common hatters who dredged around in the steamy vats, like the mad one in Alice in Wonderland, gradually lost their hair and wits. Eventually, I realized how poisonous mercury is. That explained why Dr. Rush’s Bilious Pills purged the bowels so well: the body will rid itself of any poison, mercury included. And as toxic as swallowing mercury is, its fumes are worse. They fray the “wires” in the central nervous system and burn holes in the brain, much as advanced Alzheimer’s disease does.

Burbacher and Shen did a study with forty-one infant monkeys at the Washington National Primate Research Center’s Infant Primate Research Laboratory (Burbacher). The birth weights of each infant monkey were within the normal range; the average birth weight was 341 grams and the range was 225-420 gram. Monkeys were weighed daily throughout the study, and any clinical problems were recorded. This experiment mainly compared the natural mentality and brain distribution of infant monkeys and the inorganic mercury in infant monkeys after the thimerosal were exposure with those exposed to methylmercury (MeHg). Monkeys were injected thirmerosal at birth and 1, 2, 3 weeks of age so they could get exposed to the MeHg. Infants were divided into

Karen Nelson, Neuroepidemiology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; and Margaret Bauman, Children’s Neurology Service, Harvard Medical School conducted a study on neuropathology of mercury toxicity. Nelson and Bauman asserted ethylmercury lacks the active transport mechanism across the blood-brain barrier that other found available to methylmercury however; they provided no evidence to support this assertion. The L system is the major transport

Another claim anti-vaxxers make is that vaccines contain mercury which is toxic to humans (Ross, np). Thimerosal, which was in multi-dose vaccines to prevent bacteria growth, did in fact contain traces of mercury (Ross, np) (CDC, np). However, there are two types of mercury: methylmercury and ethylmercury (CDC, np). Methylmercury, which is found in some kinds of fish, is toxic to humans in high doses, while ethylmercury is cleaned out of the body rapidly and is less likely to cause any harm, especially at low doses (CDC, np). Thimerosal contained a very low dose of ethylmercury, and studies showed it would not be toxic to humans, aside from some minor side effects such as redness or swelling after injection (CDC, np). Even so, the FDA decided to remove thimerosal from vaccines back in 2001 (Ross, np).

It has been almost 60 years since the most horrific mercury poisoning disaster the world has ever seen took place in Minamata, Japan. On May 1956, four patients from the city of Minamata were admitted to the hospital with similar severe baffling symptoms. They all suffered from high fever, convulsions, loss of consciousness, and finally death. Soon afterward, 13 other patients from a neighboring fishing village near Minamata suffered the same symptoms and also died ( Juan, 2006). As time went on more and more people became ill and died. It was finally determined that the cause was mercury poisoning that was dumped into the Minamata bay on a massive scale by a chemical plant. The mercury contaminated the water and fish. The people ate the fish

The article “Our Preferred Poison” in the March 2005 issue of Discover magazine brings up the issue dealing with mercury poisoning. The author, Karen Wright, writes, “Mercury is unimaginably toxic and dangerous. A single drop on a human hand can be irreversibly fatal. A single drop in a large lake can make all the fish in it unsafe to eat.” This was the opening statement in the article which first grabbed my attention, because I had not thought mercury to be such a deadly substance. After all, it is used in thermometers, so I hadn’t thought it to be as fatally toxic as Wright claims it to be.

sensitive to mercury toxic effects, being on the top of food webs (Barbaros et al,

Kennedy, Robert F., and Marc A. Yaggi. "Mercury Poisoning Is a Growing Global Menace We Have to Address." The Guardian. N.p., 10 Jan. 2013. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. .