Environmental mercury pollution

Various forms of inorganic mercury are used in industry in battery production and as catalysts. Mercuric nitrate was previously used in tanneries and the fur trade (see pp. 166-7). Clearly these can cause both pollution and human poisoning. However, the form of mercury most likely to be associated with environmental pollution and to cause problems is organomercury. This is because in this form mercury is soluble in fat and can accumulate in animals in the food chain. The cases of serious environmental mercury pollution and poisoning illustrate this well. 

Forsberg, B. R., M. C. Silva-Forsberg, C. R. Padovani, E. Sargentini, and O. Malm. 1995. "High levels of mercury in fish and human hair in the Rio Negro basin (Brazilian Amazon)." In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Environmental Mercury Pollution and its Health Effeas in the Amazon River Basin, eds. H. Kato, and W.C. Pfeiffer (National Institute of Minamata Disease, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), pp. 33-40. 

Since the early 1960s, the growing awareness of environmental mercury pollution and its toxicity has stimulated the development of more accurate, precise and efficient methods for the determination of total mer-... 

In 1988 diaphragm cells accounted for 76% of all U.S. chlorine production, mercury cells for 17%, membrane cells for 5%, and all other production methods for 2%. Corresponding statistics for Canadian production are diaphragm cells, 81% mercury cells, 15% and membrane cells, 4% (5). for a number of reasons, including concerns over mercury pollution, recent trends are away from mercury cell production toward the more environmentally acceptable membrane cells, which also produce higher quality product and have favorable economics. 

Tonelli, D., E. Gattavecchia, S. Ghini, C. Porrini, G. Celli, and A.M. Mercuri. 1990. Honey bees and their products as indicators of environmental radioactive pollution. Jour. Radioanal. Nuclear Chem. 141 427-436. 

O Research the environmental impact of mercury pollution. Describe the main sources of mercury in the environment, the effects of mercury on human health, and at least one incident in which humans were harmed by mercury pollution. 

ANTIFOULING AGENTS. Various chemical substances added to paints and coatings to combat mildew and crustaceous formations, such as barnacles on the hull of a ship. In the past, large quantities of mercury compounds have been used in this manner. With growing environmental concern over possible mercury pollution, manufacturers have been turning to other, sometimes less efficacious compounds, Research continues to find compounds of a less toxic, but equally effective power of the mercury compounds. Bis(tributyltin) fluoride has been used on ship bottoms. See also Mercury. 

Guilherme, S., M. Valega, M.E. Pereira, M.A. Santos, and M. Pacheco. 2008. Antioxidant and biotransformation responses in Liza aurata under environmental mercury exposure—relationship with mercury accumulation and implications for public health. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 56 845-859. 

Hemt B., Hornung H., Kress N., and Cohen Y. (1996) Environmental relaxation in response to reduced contaminant input the case of mercury pollution in Haifa Bay, Israel. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 32(4), 366-373. 

Smith, J.N. and Loring, D.H. (1981) Geochronology for mercury pollution in die sediments of the Saguenay Fjord. Environmental Science and Technology, 15, 944-951. 

Owing to the environmental dangers of mercury, its use in pesticides has been limited. In Japan, organic mercury compounds used in fungicides in rice culture were replaced by phosphoric acid esters in 1968. However, the quantity of mercury used in agriculture is responsible for only a small part of the mercury polluting the environment, and the overall problem of environmental pollution by mercury is not yet solved. 

Strohal, P. and Huljev, D., 1970. Investigation of mercury pollutant interaction with humic acid by means of radio tracers. In Nuclear Techniques in Environmental Pollution. I.A.E.A., Vienna, pp. 439—446. 

Mercury is. of course, a naturally occurring element. However. industrial pollution is a major source of environmental mercury. The pollution comes from many sources, such as coal-burning power plants, rclinertes. runc from factories, and industrial waste. Mercury also enters the environment from such sources as automobile exhausts, sewage treatment plants, medical and dental facilities, and water runoff from mercury and gold-mining operations. The Clean Air Act, first enacted in 1970 in the United Stales, mandated levels of air pollution, including mercury. Likewise, the EPA has set water-quality criteria for levels of mercury in both fresh and saltwater systems, The Clean Water Act requires that individual slates achieve safe concentration levels for pollutants like mercury. 

Lavie, B., Eviatar, N., 1987. Differential fitness of allelic isoenzymes in the marine gastropods Littorina punctata and L neritoides exposed to the environmental stress of the combined effects of cadmium and mercury pollution. Environ. Manag. 11, 345-350. 

Because of the sudden awareness of the toxic effects of mercury pollution problems in several parts of the world, many environmental studies were carried out in the early 1970 s. 

Mercury losses during the process are considerable and the environmental impact of the mining, above and beyond the effects of erosion and deforestation, is enormous. There is evidence of mercury pollution of the... 

Hylander LD, Goodsite ME. Environmental costs of mercury pollution. Sci Total Environ... 

Suggs, J. D. 1972. Mercury Pollution Control in Stream and Lake Sediments, Water Pollution Control Research Series, 16080 HTD-03/72, Office of Research and Monitoring, U.S. Environmental Protection... 

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