Water Pollution

These fish becoming poisoned by the toxins can carry disease and end up on your plate. Local seafood restaurants or grocery stores cannot tell if the fish they serve to you has been affected by the hazardous pollution. The fishermen that catch the fish locally cannot see a difference between the diseased fish and normal ones either so the pollution in the community deposits into the harbor can come right back. The local population also drinks the water that has been filtered and sometimes contains dangerous minerals. This water runs through showers and faucets in homes that people use every day.

Generally containing about 150 ppm, killer whales are known to have numerous issues due to these high levels of contaminants (3). Seals have been known to have immune complications when carrying less than 10 ppm PCBs (3). Hence, orcas are heavily effected, facing a shorter life expectancy, birth defects, chromosomal issues, and cancer (4). Unfortunately, salmon is one of the top contributors to the pollution in orcas, and a food source for the majority of humans. In consequence, people are at risk for the same negative effects of biomagnification as orcas. For this reason, there is often a recommended limit on seafood consumption. Some examples of PCBs’ effects on humans are cancer and development problems

When a person is asked what water is, the first things that they say are; water is drinkable, used for showers, simple, washing, etc.. But people don’t really know how complex and important water is for our kind. Water is one of the most precious things we humans have, but we don’t realize it and we damage it without caring for the consequences. Water and water pollution are two things that we should all have in mind. Even though we see water as just a liquid, but there’s more to it than its form or state.

As long as the fish continue to be exposed to mercury, mercury will continually build up in fish's bodies. Fish that eat other fish grow even more highly tainted. Therefore, the fish most desirable for many additional bigger fishes become the most affected, and larger sized fish will be the most contaminated fish.

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).

Many of my sources including ‘Methyl Mercury - The Danger from the Sea’ (Protect the sharks, 2012) offer data and detailed explanations as to why it is so toxic to us as humans and the extreme problems it can cause to the human body. As mammals, we cannot manage mercury levels in our system because it is not naturally occurring in our environment, meaning we have not adapted to cope with is causing us to suffer various negative side effects when ingesting mercury. Methyl mercury is 1000 times more toxic than organic mercury (Protect the sharks, 2012) which is an alarming statistic considering the fact human tissue assimilates almost 100% of methyl mercury. According to Dr. Jane Hightower, although there is no ‘safe’ level of chronic mercury exposure, for reasons currently thought to be related to genetics, some people have higher tolerances to methyl mercury than others. This means reactions to the substance can vary in severity on wide scale. ‘The Effect of Fish Consumption on Blood Mercury Levels of Pregnant Women’ (Euy Hyuk Kim et al, 2006) explains that once the methyl mercury is ingested, usually through the consumption of fish, initial signs of the poisoning include numbness of the hands and feet, general weakness of the muscles, loss of peripheral vision and damage to hearing and speech. However within the course of only a few weeks the effects of the poisoning can dramatically worsen to anything between the development of type 2 diabetes, infertility (especially in men), immune dysfunction, an increase in coronary heart disease and heart attacks or strokes, mutations leading to cancer, dysphagia, visual impairments, insanity (hence the term mad as a hatter) and neuropsychiatric damage being the worst. The neurological problems tend to originally show themselves in the form of ataxia earlier on in the timeline of

Mercury poisoning around the world spread dangerously into the waters and into foods that people ate, especially fish, creating not only health issues, but also environmental issues. Dietary exposure to methylmercury is the most common type of mercury exposure. Methylmercury is an organic form that is found in fish, contaminating them (Gerdes, 2006). Methylmercury was created when elemental mercury got into rivers, lakes, and oceans, therefore forming mercury poisoning in many types of fish. Even though fish contained many good vitamins, minerals, and protein, fish attracted methylmercury, which was extremely toxic to organ of the

n addition to mercury becoming a natural occurrence and cannot be helped when it affected the environment, many animals, especially the fish were dying from the mercury poisoning in their habitats. “Fish at the top of the food chain and at lower depths exhibit higher levels of contamination as there is more methylmercury at those depths, and they also ingest fish that are tainted with the toxic chemical” (Ruiz, 2013).

"How Does Mercury Affect Human Health and the Environment?" How Does Mercury Affect Human Health and the Environment? EPA, 25 Aug. 2004. Web. 28 Aug. 2015. http://waste.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23023/Article/17228/How-does-mercury-affect-human-health-and-the-environment

In a sample of 200 fish from the Madre de Dios River near mining operations, 56% of the fish had mercury levels which exceeded the World Health Organization’s acceptable guidelines by 0.5 mg kg-1 subsequently posing a health hazard to local communities (Diringer et al., 2015).

When “inorganic” mercury comes in contact with water, a chemical reaction occurs, converting the mercury to “methylated mercury”, which builds-up in any animal who consumes or absorbs it, while subsequently poisoning them. Finally there is cadmium, a chemical which, when ingested, does not easily digest, usually remaining in the liver. This causes it to accumulate over time, also causing damage as time passes. The impact of consumed cadmium is dependent on how much the substance has accumulated and where it resides within the body. Electronic components are composed of a variety of chemicals or substances that have proven harmful toward people and the environment, and should be disposed of properly and with great care as to ensure that they

One thing I learned from the quiz is that mercury can cause neurological disorder when it is absorbed through the skin(“Public Health…”.n.d.). Furthermore, despite being absorbed through skin, one of the primary ways for elemental mercury to influence body is when it is inhaled in to lungs (Cunha, 2014). I used to only know

For subdomains I and II, no recommendations could be identified. The primary challenges in these zones is the connection of achieving site wide remedial objectives, and decisions and actions. Another recommendation is to invest in basic research for the possibility of decommissioning buildings and to remediate soil, limiting the mercury in the food chain (Looney, 2008). The workshop had greater success in subdomain III, identifying several recommendations. Because mercury input in surface water happens in this subdomain, the workshop determined that stannous chloride could be used to treat water in NS pipes, and sodium thiosulfate could be used as a dechlorinating agent. With access to the water and the use of chemistry, alternative strategies of reducing methylmercury in fish are available (Looney, 2008). Finally, the workshop had also identified recommendations in subdomain IV. The workshop noted that the addition of trace Se could be used to reduce methylation uptake while potentially maintaining low fish tissue levels. The workshop also noted that through other technology, physical modifications such as bank stabilization and channel relocation could be a possibility

As these fish eat more and more of plankton, their mercury level increases, so when larger fish eat these small fish, mercury is passed on to them as well.

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