Essay on Mercury: A toxic poison

First, Fish effec us by giving us a good source of nutrients. They have rich vitamins and have a good source of low fat. Sadly, due to the Florida Department of Health, “consuming fish-weather a person is healthy or not, whoever eats fish the chances are that a person can become very sick (Renter, Elizabeth).” This is because fish are consuming and breathing different kinds of marine debris and the toxins of what marine debris are making. “Plastics, also called polymers, are produced by the conversion of natural products or by the synthesis from primary chemicals generally coming from oil, natural gas, or coal”( Plastics). As plastic are made out of these chemicals, over time they slowly release these toxins in the waters which creates pollution making it difficult for life and fish to live in. Every living thing that lives in the oceans are being poisoned. Due to this fish are now of a sudden to much to include in our meals. Yet, the government encourages us to eat up to “12 ounces of fish per week (DrKmiec )”. Luckily , most of us don’t really pay attention to these kind of things, but in reality if we did eat what the government recommended us to eat the chances are we would be giving ourselves mercury poisoning. This is the conclusion released from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). And the EWG analysis mercury and the Omegas 3’s concentration in seafoods finds that “ten of the most popular seafoods in America pose an unacceptable amount mercury risk to us who eat the amount of what the government

Mercury is another toxic pollutant that may be found in the tailings and in the surface and ground water supplies of the Silver Bow Creek area. While mercury is

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.

For instance, certain seafoods are known to have high concentrations of mercury. The same can be found inside of certain dental fillings, such as silver fillings or mercury amalgrams.

As already stated, many other locations around the world are affected by mercury poisoning and contamination. For example, Canada and Japan have an extensive history of mercury poisoning, including neurologic symptoms and contaminated fish. These studies have has been documented since the 1950’s in these locations. In fact, the contamination became so problematic the Ontario health department formed a task force on organic mercury in 1972. Further, recent protesting throughout Toronto has asked for Canada to address the contamination of mercury. Findings revealed levels of mercury exceeding those of international standards and included the highest recorded mercury contamination among in the western part of the world. (CITE 6)

Once released into the environment, mercury is free to be taken up by plants and animals but is not toxic unless transformed through bacterial or chemical processes into its organic form, the most famous of which is methylmercury [6], [8], [10] Methylmercury impacts several critical organ systems and particularly toxic to the development of the fetus [11]. It also bioaccumulates in living organisms, which leads to higher levels of methylmercury with each increasing trophic level [10], [12], [13]

Mercury is an element that can be found in our environment through air, water and soil. Being exposed to constant levels of mercury may be detrimental to one’s overall health since it can impact the nervous, digestive and immune systems of human (WHO). In 1960, the demand of Mercury (Hg) increased significantly as it was needed in many commercial and medical practices, despite its high toxicity levels (dwivedi). Thus, the increase in mercury consumption was due to industrialization. Mercury should be gaining increased medical concerns as it can impact the lives of several classes of society. In Canada, it is found that the vast majority of marine mammals contain methylmercury (MeHg) (Laird). Methylmercury is highly more lethal than Mercury

-Mercury is a persistent substance which means a number of mercury increases in concentration as you go the in the food chain, so the higher up the chain and the higher amount of mercury. This tendency is called biomagnification. For instance, plankton contains 0.00001 ppm of mercury and if you go up 5 levels to the top of the pyramid which is a shark, it contains 1 ppm of mercury. This may pose a potential health threat to those animals and humans who consume the fishes or shark.

When solid mercury (II) nitrate is heated, it decomposes to form solid mercury (II) oxide, gaseous nitrogen dioxide, and oxygen.

These toxins more often than not can have fatal consequences. Mercury is definitely one of the number one most dangerously used elements in our history. The first written record of this element is credited to Aristotle Often called the element of the ancients, mercury was dated back to as far as the 15th century BCE when it was found in ceremonial cups in Egyptian Tombs (Czaika). It is known that the Romans were the first to actually mine and use this element for everyday needs. Even at these times humans were aware of the fact that the element was poisonous. They had a mine in Spain that was worked by slaves, prisoners, and other undesirables. After the mine was dry they would use it as a prison system for the workers. Most of them would die very slow and painful deaths, bringing a long end to a short life (Sloane). In ancient China, mercury was used for a variety of medical needs. From a contraceptive, to a cough serum, to a remedy for unknown sexually transmitted diseases (Kok). People would consume mercury as if it was candy. This practice also spread to India. People did not understand the harmful toxins that they were ingesting.

Bacteria and chemical reactions in lakes and wetlands change the mercury into a much more toxic form known as methyl mercury. Fish become contaminated with methyl mercury by eating food, which has absorbed methyl mercury. The environment is at a serious risk because of the levels of mercury in our water supply. Mercury will contaminate the fish and other wild life around the tainted water

The Clean Water Act lists the SFBay as impaired for mercury. Estimates suggest the bay’s sediment is contaminated with about two hundred metric tons of mercury, much going back to original Gold Rush. This pollutant has affected SFBay biota resulting in a state issued fish advisory waning not to eat some common fish such as Striped bass and limited intake of other species (OEHHA, 2011; Ely & Viani, 2010).

The article describes briefly how the mercury ends up in the fish we eat, how the rain grabs the mercury from the atmosphere and deposits it into the lakes and oceans. Because of the food chain, the largest of the aquatic animals will have the highest amount of mercury, whales and sharks for example. So, communities high in whale and shark consumption will show the greatest risk of mercury poisoning.

The CTBC claims that e-waste accounts for approximately 40 percent of these three toxins that end up landfills, noting that "just 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury can contaminate 20 acres of a lake, making the fish unfit to eat."