Mercury Contamination In Man And His Environment

Bibliography of post-1960 sources about environmental contamination by mercury. Ten sections: uses and consumption, regulation and control, mercury in fishes and aquatic environment, mercury in wildlife and birds, effects of mercury on laboratory animals, effects of mercury on humans, mercury in animal foodstuffs, methods of analysis: biological material, methods of analysis: other, and general publications.

Mercury is widespread in our environment. Methylmercury, one organic form of mercury, can accumulate up the aquatic food chain and lead to high concentrations in predatory fish. When consumed by humans, contaminated fish represent a public health risk. Combustion processes, especially coal-fired power plants, are major sources of mercury contamination in the environment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering regulating mercury emissions from those plants. Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury reviews the health effects of methylmercury and discusses the estimation of mercury exposure from measured biomarkers, how differences between individuals affect mercury toxicity, and appropriate statistical methods for analysis of the data and thoroughly compares the epidemiological studies available on methylmercury. Included are discussions of current mercury levels on public health and a delineation of the scientific aspects and policy decisions involved in the regulation of mercury. This report is a valuable resource for individuals interested in the public health effects and regulation of mercury. The report also provides an excellent example of the implications of decisions in the risk assessment process for a larger audience.

The workers in the beaver felt factories of the time would, in fact, go mad as a result of breathing the toxic mercury fumes, the effects of which are irreversible. [...] Eventually mercury releases, such as the Arctic, are the mercury was discharged to the local waterway, adversely affected due to the transcontinental polluting the fish in the English-Wabigoon River and global transport of mercury. [...] It was determined that the natural mercury found in the underlying rock and soil was being released by the increased bacterial activity associated with the decomposition of the plant life in the flooded areas. [...] The process of methylation of inorganic mercury Ionic mercury (both mercuric and mercurous) com- to organic mercury is important to the fate of mercury in the environment. [...] The Second is the release of mercury that is incidental mercury used in products and industrial applica- to some other activity; for example, the natural tions originates from mercury mined from the mercury found in coal is released when the coal Earth's crust.