Practicing religious or folk medicine rituals that include mercury.
Drinking water contaminated with mercury (rare). Eating contaminated food, especially fish or shellfish-Larger and older fish tend to have the highest levels of mercury. Mercury toxicity may occur when you are exposed to toxic amounts of mercury due to: Mercury salts-white powders or crystals formed when mercury combines with elements such as chlorine, sulfur, or oxygenĮasily reach the brain and are more harmful than mercury salts. Methylmercury-a chemical made up of mercury combined with carbon, mainly produced by microscopic organisms in the water and soil. Metallic mercury-a shiny, silver-white, odorless liquid that becomes a colorless, odorless gas when heated. Short- or long-term exposure to mercury can cause serious health problems. Mercury is a naturally occurring heavy metal. Still, these health-protective standards are under attack.Mercury toxicity occurs when a person is exposed to mercury. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, years in the making, were announced in 2012 and finalized in 2014. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards slash mercury emissions from coal plants by 90%, as well as dramatically reduce other toxic air pollution that comes out with the mercury. Prior to the implementation of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, coal plants spewed 386,000 tons of hazardous air pollution into the atmosphere. Many responsible American coal plant operators have already taken this step. Mercury poisoning from coal plants can be prevented by installing cost-effective scrubbers to reduce mercury emissions. Help Keep Mercury Out of Children’s Brains Mercury causes brain neuron degeneration, impairing the growth of the brain in ways that interfere with learning and thinking. Umbilical cord: Methylmercury crosses the placental barrier to reach the fetus a baby’s brain has the highest concentrations of lipids of any in its body.įetuses and young children–whose brain structures are still developing–are especially vulnerable to methylmercury poisoning. Once we eat contaminated fish, methylmercury goes directly into the organs that have the most lipids, or fats, where it accumulates.īreasts: Mercury is found in breast milk.īrains: Methylmercury is able to breach the blood-brain barrier–a nearly impenetrable membrane of high-density cells that safeguards our brains. 
Bluefish, grouper, king mackerel, marlin, orange roughy, shark, swordfish, and tuna (bigeye and ahi) all contain high levels of mercury. Typically, the longer a fish lives, and the larger it is, the more mercury accumulates in its flesh. It accumulates in fatty tissue.Ĭontaminated fish is eaten by other fish, birds and mammals–including humans. It is dispersed by their blood through their bodies. Methylmercury is absorbed by fish through their gills. That bacteria makes the mercury “bio available”–able to be taken up by fish that consume it. Microorganisms in the water convert the mercury to a highly toxic form, called methylmercury. Every state in the country has issued a fish advisory of some type because of unsafe mercury contamination. That mercury drifts through the air–across the globe–and rains down into reservoirs, rivers, lakes and the ocean. When a coal smokestack is not filtered, mercury and other poisons–arsenic, lead, nickel, chromium and acid gases–are released into the air as coal is burned. But how did the mercury get into the tuna–and other fish–in the first place?Ĭoal-fired power plants are the single largest source of toxic mercury they emit 42% of all human-caused mercury pollution in the United States.
Over 400,000 newborns are affected by mercury pollution every year. Tuna, like other large predator fish, is contaminated with mercury.
We are a community of over one million parents united against air and climate pollution to protect our children’s health.Įver wonder why pregnant women are advised by doctors to cut down on eating albacore (white) tuna?
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