Just one fluorescent tube can contaminate up to 30,000 litres of water! Imagine the effect on our ecosystem: the contamination of fish, other water-borne life and consequently human life. Mercury (Hg) is a heavy metal, which cannot be excreted, therefore its consequences on the human body could be fatal. This is why it is now classified as a toxic substance under EU regulations, (EWC codes: H6, H142).
Toxic Effects of Mercury
FACT: Mercury is a highly toxic element found naturally and also as a human-
introduced contaminant in our environment. The damaging effects are deter-
mined by the chemical form and the amount of exposure.
Methylmercury CH3Hg is the most toxic form, affecting the immunue, genetic, enzyme and nervous systems. It can be up to 10 times more damaging to developing embryos. People are exposed to this form mainly from eating contaminated fish, other seafood and wildlife. Wildlife, such as fish-eating birds, may have large amounts of methylmercury in their diet. The larger fish, especially those eating smaller fish, will have much higher levels of this toxin in their bodies. Mercury concentrates in the muscle tissue of fish, so filleting and cooking them will not remove it. [info: www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-,3.04.10]
Despite the obvious and provable damage caused, many industries, including, incinerator and coal-burning power plants, still dispose of thousands of tonnes of mercury waste - as highlighted in the Minamata incident. This is one of the main ways this toxin gets into our oceans/environment.
Mad Hatters' Disease, or Mad Hatter Syndrome originates from the symptoms suffered by hatters who used a mercury solution to create stiff felt for hats in the 1800s. The fumes given off by the solution, and inevitably breathed in, caused the medical effects highlighted by the Mad Hatter character, of Alice in Wonderland fame: trembling (hatters' shakes), loss of memory and coordination, slurred speech, loosening and loss of teeth, depression, irritability and anxiety.
THE MINAMATA INCIDENT
The benefits of a diet rich in fish outweigh risks of mercury poisoning, say researchers who studied the children of mothers exposed to methyl mercury during pregnancy. The researchers are calling for action from policy makers. Methyl mercury bioaccumulates in fish and is a neurotoxin, causing schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disease. The worst known incident of widespread mercury poisoning was seen in Minamata Bay, Japan. Those most affected were unborn children of women who were pregnant at the time of the poisoning.
This photo, by William Eugene Smith, shows 'an outwardly healthy mother bathing her foetal-poisoned 16 year old daughter, Tomoko Uemura, physically crippled since birth due to environmental industrial mercury poisoning in the local Minamata, Japan, water supply'. www.hamline.edu/personal/amurphy01/es110/eswebsite/Projects Spring03/ebarker/Minamata%20Web%20Page.htm [accessed: 20.08.10]
684 people suffered mercury poisoning, 115 died from this terrible incident. But how much have we learnt since this time?
