MERCURY AND HEALTH
Mercury is toxic by ingestion, inhalation and skin
absorption with acute and chronic exposure effects including central nervous
system and kidney damage. Acute exposure includes nausea, blurred vision,
painful breathing, excessive salivation and pneumonitis, while chronic or
longer- term exposure includes memory disturbance, hypertension, vision problems,
hallucinations, tremors and personality changes. Because mercury can cross
the blood-brain barrier, and because it can affect brain development, its
effects are of special concern to pregnant or lactating women and young children.
For this reason, many states, including North Carolina, as well as the U.S. EPA,
have issued fish consumption advisories. Many of these advisories are directed
towards pregnant or lactating women and young children, or are more strict for
these populations, due to concerns over developmental disabilities in infants
from mercury exposure.
Listed below are Web sites, manuals, articles
and brochures on how mercury can effect your health and what it can do
when it contaminates the environment. The links will appear in a new browser window.
Full Title:
Mercury-Containing Waste
Full Work Author: Florida Department of Waste Management
Abstract: This Web site provides a technical description of how mercury
affects human health, offers many fact sheets on mercury-containing products,
and has a kids section to teach them about mercury. The site also
provides Florida’s regulations on mercury and what is being done to prevent contamination.
Full Title: Consumer
Advisory about Mercury in Fish
Full Work Author: Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition,
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Abstract: This fact sheet warns of the dangers of consuming large
amounts of fish suspected of containing trace amounts of mercury. The
sheet explains how the fish can become contaminated and explains that they
can be eaten in only very small amounts.
Full Title:
Human Health Effects and Ecological Impacts of Mercury
Full Work Author: Northeast Waste Management Officials’ Association
(NEWMOA)
Abstract: This site gives a brief overview of the ways that mercury poses a health risk.
Full Title:
Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury
Full Work Author: Committee on the Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury,
Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, National Research Council
Abstract: This book outlines the effects of mercury in a certain form.
The book is free to read online and contains information about methylmercury
and why awareness is important.
This illustration
displays the overall process of the cycling of mercury through the environment.
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