Mercury In The Ocean

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

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

Mercury is found to increase the prevalence of diagnosed ASDs. Mercury is a heavy metal that can cause permanent neurological and renal impairment. During development, mercury is found in the endocrine system and has been found to be impact child's endocrine system development (Lakshmi & Geetha (2011). Geier et al. (2010) mention that mercury can be found in vaccines, drugs, fish and other foods, dental amalgams and air pollution such as coal-burning power. Pregnant women need to be aware of mercury exposure in several items and foods to prevent exposure or harm to the

Atmospheric exposures come from volcanic eruptions, coal burning, and through mining, then the mercury goes through a cycle such as the nitrogen cycle and then settles into the ocean (Bernhoft 2011). As the mercury settles into the water the small creatures with the water, and people ingest the fish containing mercury and can cause major damage to people and pregnant women (Bernhoft 2011). Although exposure usually occurs with the atmospheric reasoning, but there are other parts of the human body that can be affected such as the kidneys, skin, breast etc. (Bernhoft 2011). However there are many different ways that mercury can be taken out of a person’s body, that being through urination, and many large amounts come out through sweat and saliva (Bernhoft

Table 2: Summary of data collected on concentration of mercury in surface water samples of Onondaga Lake in 1992 (NYSDEC/TAMS, 2002)

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 purpose of this assignment was to discuss how mercury pollution is dangerous for our aquatic ecosystems. I wanted to show that we should be more concerned about the effects of mercury and how it impacts the marine mammals as well as humans. Many people disregard mercury as being a serious pollutant which can cause severe illness and even in some cases, death to marine mammals. By knowing the effects of mercury pollution, we can make a difference by following measures to safely dispose of mercury product. By properly disposing mercury containing products, we will be tremendously helping to curb mercury pollution one small step at a time.

In the United States there are no national limits on the emissions of mercury and other toxics from power plants. These toxics can cause damage to the developing brains of children, making their IQ go down, along with their ability to learn.

Mercury is a naturally occurring element found in the earth's crust that can be found as the elemental or metallic mercury or in many organic and inorganic compounds. Mercury is a metal that when at room temperature is a silvery liquid metal and is often called one of the "heavy metals." Mercury can evaporate like water, and become airborne. It is an element that does not break down into a less toxic substance. Once mercury escapes into the environment it will continue to circulate in and out of the atmosphere until it ends up at the bottoms of lakes and oceans. It cannot be created or destroyed (UWM, 2004).

The first organic mercury compounds were studied in the 1800s, with serious incidences of methylmercury poisoning reported in 1865. Initial reports indicated a divergent symptoms associated with methyl mercury poisoning. The symptoms include: loss of coordination, tunnel vision, deafness, extremities, impaired speech and altered face sensation. Approximately a century later, contrary to the decreased environmental pollution, the clinical picture re-emerged. Therefore, development of more harm to human health was suspected. However, international agreement to control pollution by mercury was not reached until 2009. According to the historical evaluations made, the effects of methyl mercury toxicity such forgetfulness, lack of coordination and tunnel vision affected the research on environmental health.

Metallic mercury may be oxidized to inorganic divalent mercury, particularly in the presence of organic material such as in the aquatic environment. Divalent inorganic mercury may, in turn be reduced to metallic mercury when conditions are appropriate for reducing reactions to occur. A potential source of alkyaltion of divalent mercury is methylation to dimethyl mercury by anaerobic bacteria. Methyl mercury is of major toxicology significance. If it is taken up into the food chain by fish, it may eventually cycle through humans or it may diffuse into the atmosphere and return to the earth's crust or to bodies of water as methyl mercury in rainfall1.

(www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=112&tid=24). Once mercury vapor particles are in the blood stream it can bind to the hemoglobin sight, where blood get its oxygen and deprive the rest of the body of from it. It also can take oxygen in the bloodstream to form divalent mercury (Hgll), which is when it can lose electrons, and bind to any group of proteins in the body or albumin. It also can bind to sights on the surface of the T cell and sulfhydrl groups, which can severely affect the immune system. The main organs elemental mercury centers are central, peripheral nervous system, kidneys, and the brain. The kidneys end up getting an extremely high concentration of elemental mercury this ends up causing blood in your urine, proteinuria, acute renal failure, and damage to the tubules. Unfortunately, due to mercury ability for being lipophilic, it can easily pass the blood brain barrier and settle in the brain tissue for long periods of time (www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb). This will have several effects ranging from damaging brain cells to blocking neurotransmitters. Mercury vapor can also effects chemicals in the brain, such as serotonin, tyrosine, and can deplete glutathione. Due to the half life of elemental mercury being exposure to it takes over two months to fully dissipate through the body, and has the ability to go into

In 1952, the first incidents of mercury poisoning occurred in the population of Minimata Bay in Japan, caused by eating fish contaminated with mercury, bringing over 500 fatalities. Since then, Japan has had the severest environmental laws in the developed world.

Introduction to mercury contamination: Mercury is a naturally occurring element, which is released from the earth’s crust through a number of pathways. For instance, natural erosion of mercury containing rocks enable its transportation into the air and be washed off to waterways. Volcanic eruptions and geothermal activity also release mercury. Therefore, there are natural background levels of mercury. However, anthropogenic sources of mercury emissions following the industrial revolution has increased its mobilisation into the environment, consequencing in elevated levels of mercury in the atmosphere, soils, fresh-waters and oceans. In Australia, it is stated that natural sources contribute to 93% of total mercury emissions in Australia. Nevertheless, an important limitation to such modelled statics is the fact that they are unable to taken into account the percentage of those natural emissions that are actually mercury originating from anthropogenic sources being re-emitted.

In Pakistan, the computers and other obsolete electronic goods are imported under the pretext of 'second-hand equipment. A small percentage of the items imported are usable. In practice, after removing the working machines and usable parts, the bulk of the consignment is sent to the recycling industry Hundreds of workers, including teenage children, earn their livelihoods by dismantling the electronic scrap and extracting valuable components E-waste has Environmental repercussions of the various highly toxic elements like lead, cadmium, barium, mercury and chromium which are released during the dismantling of these used computers. There is no proper system to recycle and dispose e-waste in Pakistan, which is a serious issue.