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Climate Change Worsens Mercury Pollution

We can't escape it...mercury contamination is just about everywhere...

A summary of recent research shows climate change will increase our exposure to mercury, a toxic heavy metal that threatens fetal growth and development and targets the brains of children. Pregnant women hear a lot about mercury from their obstetricians, who emphasize the need to limit tuna consumption during pregnancy. New moms hear a lot about mercury from their pediatricians, who warn against feeding too much tuna to their toddlers. So moms know that tuna can threaten the health of fetuses, babies, and children.

What many moms don’t know is that most mercury in fish comes from coal fired power…

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Featured

 An Alarming Amount of Toxic Mercury Can Now Be Found in Coastal Fog

A new study out of the University of California, Santa Cruz, has detected alarming levels of toxic mercury in California's coastal fog. The research is just the latest confirmation that this neurotoxin can be carried in fog, deposited on land, and found within the food chain, according to Phys.org.

 Can Eating Too Much Tuna Give You Mercury Poisoning?

It's the go-to "healthy" meal for uni students and gym bros alike. But how much tuna is too much? And how real is the risk of mercury toxicity?

 We are all at risk from poisonous mercury. It's time to take action

Mercury is found in household items from beauty products to electronics, and even in food. Without proper safeguards our health is in danger.

Articles of Interest

Mercury's Poisonous, Profitable Role in the New Gold Rush

The once-common English expression “mad as a hatter” described the psychotic symptoms displayed by European hatmakers of the 18th century who were poisoned using mercury to process fur pelts. Similar expressions can be heard in everyday conversation across Segovia. Edgar Segura, who helps run a shop offering quicksilver, says some of his friends have gone mad inhaling fumes.

Mercury’s Silent Toll On the World’s Wildlife

Scientists are only beginning to understand the impacts of mercury contamination on birds, fish, and other wildlife populations. But what they are finding is alarming — even low levels can cause harm, and chronic exposure has unexpected and troubling effects.

Air & Mercury

Together with energy savings, the replacement of coal with alternative forms of electricity and heat production (e.g. renewables) is the most effective way of preventing further emissions of mercury in the atmosphere.

Can International Mercury Treaty Cut Poison Risk?

Much of the world agrees that mercury contamination is a major public and environmental health concern, and nearly a hundred nations have proven it by signing the United Nations' Minamata Convention on Mercury. But experts say the devil may lie in the details and add that reducing mercury use and environmental levels won't be a quick process.

Eating Seafood: Health Boon or Health Threat?

So which fish are safe to eat? And which fish provide the greatest health benefits?

Extent of Mercury Pollution More Widespread

Mercury pollution is making its way into nearly every habitat in the U.S., exposing countless species of wildlife to potentially harmful levels of mercury, a new report from the National Wildlife Federation shows.

How Just Two Drops of Organic Mercury Can Destroy Your Brain

This famous '80s case study is a terrifying glimpse into acute mercury poisoning.

How to Tell If You're Poisoning Yourself With Fish

Scientists have assured me that one serving of halibut contains nowhere near a dosage that might cause harm. These are the same scientists, though, who admit that no one knows for sure what the threshold dose is that causes mercury to subtly poison cells in the brain and the liver, two organs where it tends to accumulate.

Mercury in Seafood: A Little Clarity

One of the most dangerous yet confusing toxic pollutants is mercury in seafood. Mercury is very bad for developing fetuses and children, and seafood is very good for them. But mercury is in all seafood. Like I said: confusing.

Mercury poisoning is a growing global menace we have to address

Health experts first described mercury poisoning, then called "Minamata disease", in Minamata city, in Japan, in 1956. Mercury discharges from the Chisso chemical plant contaminated finfish and shellfish, devastating the community's human and animal population for decades. Many of the region's citizens died and tens of thousands of people suffered mercury-related illnesses.

Mercury pollution – where does it come from?

The largest source of emissions to the atmosphere is currently coal fired power stations, however, the widespread use of mercury in dental amalgam means that in the future, crematoria could become the most significant source.

Mercury: How To Get This Lethal Poison Out Of Your Body

If you are heavy, it could be making you sick and tired and age prematurely. And I don’t mean heavy with fat ... I mean heavy with heavy metals — like mercury! Unfortunately, toxic mercury problems are common. Along with polar bears, beluga whales, ducks, otters, panthers, and all river fish as well as most large ocean fish, we humans are poisoning ourselves with mercury at ever increasing rates.

Seal Meat, Gold Mining: How Lower-Income Women Are Exposed To Mercury

Most people have had some exposure to mercury. Fish is one source. So are mercury vapors from workplaces and factories. That's what the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say. At very low levels, the mercury isn't likely a problem (although it's hard to say exactly how low is "safe.") But higher levels can cause damage to the kidney, lungs and neurological systems. And for women of childbearing age there's a severe additional risk...

Some Fish Are Still Full of Mercury, for a Worrying Reason

Emissions of mercury have declined, but levels in fish could still increase thanks to overfishing and a changing climate.

Sugar-coated Mercury Contamination

Most of us know by now that eating mercury is bad for you, and we know that mercury contamination is a risk in certain types of fish. But did you know this neurologically damaging heavy metal could also be lurking in everything from cereal to ketchup?

The science behind S-Town’s mercury poisoning mystery

Mad hatters, gold, clocks — and a dangerous cumulative toxin.

There's mercury in the Amazon. This scientist is tracking it down.

In Peru, National Geographic Explorer Jennifer Angel-Amaya monitors the toxin, used in some mining operations, and aims to establish mercury-free gold as a hot commodity.

We Need a Mercury Treaty With Teeth

We need a mercury treaty that actually reduces global mercury pollution. A treaty that fails to include mandatory mercury reductions overall will dishonor the victims of Minamata disease and accelerate mercury poisoning across the globe.

What is mercury poisoning?

The organic mercury is what gets into the food chain. It's put into the water by chemical plants that are manufacturing things and they get into shellfish and fish, or elemental mercury that gets into the water is changed into organic mercury by sea life; we eat fish or shellfish and we get mercury exposure. That organic mercury acts very similarly to the elemental form. It affects a lot of nervous system damage.

Resources

Mercury Policy Project

The Mercury Policy Project works to promote policies to eliminate mercury uses, reduce the export and trafficking of mercury, and significantly reduce mercury exposures at the local, national, and international levels.

Minamata Convention on Mercury

The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. It was agreed at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on mercury in Geneva, Switzerland at 7 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, 19 January 2013 and adopted later that year on 10 October 2013 at a Diplomatic Conference (Conference of Plenipotentiaries), held in Kumamoto, Japan.

Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry

This fact sheet answers the most frequently asked health questions about mercury. This fact sheet is one in a series of summaries about hazardous substances and their health effects.

Earth Justice

Jane M. Hightower, M.D., is a board certified internal medicine physician in San Francisco, California. She published a landmark study that brought the issue of mercury in seafood to national attention. She continues to publish scientific papers and give lectures on the subject. She is the author of Diagnosis: Mercury.

EPA

Mercury exists in various forms, and people are exposed to each in different ways. The most common way people in the U.S. are exposed to mercury is by eating fish containing methylmercury. Other exposures may result from using or breaking products containing mercury.

WHO

The continued release of mercury into the environment from human activity, the presence of mercury in the food chain, and the demonstrated adverse effects on humans are of such concern that in 2013 governments agreed to the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The Convention obliges government Parties to take a range of actions, including to address mercury emissions to air and to phase-out certain mercury-containing products.