Toxic Effects of Mercury Poisening Essay example

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

If mercury biomagnifies, in which of the organisms would you expect to find the highest mercury levels in a lake with mercury contamination?

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.

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

The health hazards for humans who come in contact with contaminants from exposure to polluted water can have long term effects on the body causing possible organ failure and death. Contaminants and chemicals such lead and mercury can bring about many minor illnesses ranging from nausea, lung irritation, skin rash, vomiting, and dizziness, to the major diseases that include cancer, liver and kidney damage, disorders of the nervous system, damage to the immune system, birth defects and even death.

The subject of black mold gathered a lot of attention in the late 1990’s. Up to that time, little attention had been given to this topic and there were few government regulations regarding black mold.

According to Bellinger, “No evidence was found to support the hypothesis that a subset of children in the amalgam group suffered substantial harm”(443). The Life Sciences Research Office (LSRO) analyzed data from multiple studies across the board, under one roof. “Scientific panels assembled by the U.S. Public Health Service, the European Commission and the World Health Organization (WHO) have concluded there is no scientifically relevant and definitive evidence to demonstrate a causal link between dental amalgam and adverse health effects, except in rare instances of allergic reactions. Some 950 scientific and medical studies were considered. Approximately 300 of the studies met criteria for scientific merit” (“Little Evidence to Link Mercury”

It has been linked to brain, nervous system, kidney, and liver damage, as well as cancer (“Harmful Effects of Chemicals of Concern”). Infants are especially at risk for mercury poisoning since their brains and bodies are still growing (“Harmful Effects of Chemicals of Concern”). These children and mothers can be exposed to mercury through contaminated drinking water, and contaminated fish (“Mercury in Drinking Water”). Unfortunately, while the government monitors the contamination of water supplies, fish swim in the open ocean where there is no protection from toxic chemicals. They encounter mercury produced by coal and oil plants, metal smelters, and the incineration of materials such as batteries that contain mercury (“Mercury in Drinking Water”). However, the amount of mercury that people consume regularly is minimal, and will continue to be so as long as the government and its citizens

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.

Professor Kostelecky, before starting this paper I didn’t have the slightest idea what an amalgam was or why it causes so much controversy in the realm of dentistry. The controversy originates from the material that primarily makes up amalgams; that material is mercury. Now that this debate has commenced, dentists, scientists, and corporate organizations everywhere are arguing whether the use of amalgams should be banned or should remain a growing practice. Because I plan to study dentistry in the future I figured this would be a good topic to prepare me for my future education.

People can come in contact with mercury in a number of ways. There is increased risk of mercury exposure in the dental, health and chemical industries. People are also at risk of consuming an unsafe amount of mercury if they eat certain things in excess amounts, such as more than 6 ounces of albacore tuna per week, or over 12 ounces of fish like shrimp, canned tuna, salmon, pollock or catfish. Exposure to mercury can cause brain damage, kidney damage, lung damage and various digestive system problems (McCoy). Perhaps the person most vulnerable to mercury poisoning is the pregnant woman and her unborn fetus. Trauma caused to infants and children as a result of