Mercury and health. | H2O Filmworks

 Mercury is a naturally occurring element found in air, water, and soil.

Exposure to mercury - even in small amounts - can cause serious health problems and pose a threat to fetal development and early childhood development.

Mercury can have toxic effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, as well as the lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes.

Mercury is considered by WHO as one of ten major chemicals or groups of chemicals of significant public health concern.

People are primarily exposed to methylmercury by eating fish and shellfish containing this organic compound.

Methylmercury differs significantly from ethylmercury. Ethylmercury is used as a preservative in some vaccines and is not a health hazard.

There are different forms of mercury - elemental (or metallic), inorganic (which people can be exposed to in the workplace), and organic (for example, methyl rut, which people can be exposed to while eating). These forms of mercury differ in their toxicity and their effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, as well as on the lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes.

In nature, mercury is found in the earth's crust. It is released into the environment as a result of volcanic activity, weathering of rocks and as a result of human activity. The main reason for the release of mercury is human activities, especially the generation of energy in coal-fired power plants, the burning of coal in homes for heating and cooking, industrial processes, the use of incinerators, and the mining of mercury, gold and other metals.

Once released into the environment, bacteria can convert mercury to methylmercury. Methylmercury then bioaccumulates in fish and shellfish (bioaccumulation occurs when concentration levels of a substance in an organism exceed those in the environment). Methylmercury is also biomagnified. For example, large carnivorous fish are more likely to contain high levels of mercury as a result of eating many smaller fish that accumulate mercury by ingesting plankton.

Humans can be exposed to any form of mercury in a variety of circumstances. However, the main exposure occurs during the consumption of fish and shellfish contaminated with methylmercury and through the inhalation of elemental mercury by workers during industrial processes. Heat treatment of food does not destroy mercury.

All people are exposed to some level of mercury. Most p Mercury and health. | H2O Filmworks eople are exposed to low levels of mercury, often constant exposure (continuous or intermittent exposure over a long period of time). But some people are exposed to high levels of mercury, including acute exposure (short-term exposure, often less than a day). An example of acute exposure is exposure to mercury from an industrial accident.

Factors that determine health effects and their severity include the following:

In general, two groups are most sensitive to mercury. The human fetus is the most sensitive to the effects of mercury - mercury can affect its development. Fetal exposure to methylmercury during fetal development may result from the mother's consumption of fish or shellfish. This can have an adverse effect on the development of the child's brain and nervous system. The main health consequence of methylmercury exposure is impaired neurological development. Therefore, in children who were exposed to methylmercury during intrauterine development, cognitive thinking, memory, attention, speech, as well as fine motor skills and visual-motor coordination may be impaired.

The second group is people who are regularly exposed to (chronic exposure to) high levels of mercury (people who live by fishing or people who are exposed in the workplace). Among certain groups of the population living by fishing, from 1.5 to 17 children out of every thousand suffer from cognitive impairment (moderate oligophrenia) caused by the consumption of fish containing mercury. Such populations are found in Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia and Greenland.

Significant health effects from mercury occurred in Minamata, Japan, during 1932-1968, when an acetic acid plant dumped liquid waste into Minamata Bay. The waste contained high concentrations of methylmercury. The bay was full of fish and shellfish, which were the main food for local residents and fishermen from other areas. For years, no one realized that the fish were contaminated with mercury and that it was causing a strange disease among the local community and elsewhere. At least 50,000 people have been affected to some extent, and more than 2,000

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