Mercury occupational exposure

Prior to the 1990s phenyhnercuric acetate was the primary bactericide and fungicide in latex and waterborne paints. Because of the increasing concerns of mercury toxicity and the potential for high consumer and occupational exposures to mercury when present in paints, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) induced U.S. manufacturers of PMA and other mercury compounds to withdraw their registrations for use of these substances as biocides in paints (see AIercury). Mercury compounds are used only for very limited, specific purposes, such as the use of phenyhnercuric mXx.2LX.e[55-68-5] as a bactericide in cosmetic eye preparations (see Cosmetics). 

This chapter reviewed current research pertaining to selected environmental agents and autoimmune diseases (Table 25.3). Other infectious agents (e.g., parvovirus, varicella), occupational exposures (e.g., mercury), dietary factors (dietary supplements, nutrients such as antioxidants, and specific proteins in wheat and other grains implicated in celiac disease), and stress have been the focus of additional research that was not included in this review. 

A third historical strand that has helped to create modern toxicology consists of the labors of occupational physicians. Some of the earliest treatises on toxicology were written by physicians who had observed or collected information on the hazards of various jobs. The man some have called the father of the field of occupational medicine was Bernardino Ramazzini, an Italian physician whose text De Moribus Artificum Diatriba (1700) contributed enormously to our understanding of how occupational exposure to metals such as lead and mercury could be harmful to workers. Ramazzini also recognized that it was important to consider the possibility that some poisons could slowly build up in the body and that their adverse effects do not make themselves apparent for a long time after exposure begins. 

In several epidemiological studies, no increased risk for congenital abnormalities, stillbirths, or spontaneous abortions was observed with occupational exposure to mercury. Exposure of pregnant rats on gestational days 10-15 at 0.5mg/m resulted in an increased incidence of resorptions gross cranial defects occurred at this dose when it was administered throughout the entire gestational period. "... 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Criteria for a Recommended Standard. . . Occupational Exposure to Inorganic Mercury. DHEW (NIOSH) Pub No 73-11024. Washington, DC, US Government Printing Office, 1973... 

Junghans RP A review of the toxicity of methyl mercury compounds with application to occupational exposures associated with laboratory uses. Environ Res 31 1-31, 1983... 

Occupational and environmental poisoning with metals, metalloids, and metal compounds is a major health problem. Exposure in the workplace is found in many industries, and exposure in the home and elsewhere in the nonoccupational environment is widespread. The classic metal poisons (arsenic, lead, and mercury) continue to be widely used. (Treatment of their toxicities is discussed in Chapter 57.) Occupational exposure and poisoning due to beryllium, cadmium, manganese, and uranium are relatively new occupational problems, which present new and previously unaddressed problems. 

As shown in Table 5-4, the NHANES median values observed for the four metals in the U.S. population correspond, on the average, to about 4% of the BEIs, whereas the 95th percentile values reach up to over 30% of the BEI. Mercury is a special case because occupational exposures to mercury... 

TABLE 3-10 Environmental and Occupational Exposure to Mercury in Humans... 

Attention has been given to mercury as a cause of autoimmune responses, especially in the kidney (69). Exposure to mercury can cause immune responses to various auto-antigens and autoimmune disease of the kidney and other tissues. Although epidemiological studies have shown that occupational exposure to mercury does not usually result in autoimmunity, mercury can cause the formation of antinuclear antibodies,... 

Moszczynski P, Rutowski J, Slowinski S, Bern S, Jakus-Stoga D. Effects of occupational exposure to mercury vapors on T cell and NK-cell populations. Arch Med Res 1996 27(4) 503-7. 

Occupational exposure to inorganic mercury is quite common, and occurs in the dental and chloralkali industries, as well as in thermometer factories, and in mercury mines. Approximately 70,000 workers in the United States are regularly exposed to mercury [16]. Measurements of mercury in blood and urine are useful in quantifying the magnitude of exposure (see section about biological monitoring below). In most instances there is a linear relationship between ambient air and urine concentration of mercury, where the urine... 

Albuminuria and nephrosis may also follow occupational exposure. Friberg et al. [115] found two such cases in a group of 50 workers exposed to metallic mercury. Both men recovered after the exposure was eliminated. Likewise, Kazantzis et al. [116] describe four cases from two factories where 72 men were exposed to mercury compounds. The urinary excretion of mercury was excessive in most of the workers, ranging from not detectable to more than 1000 pg Hg/L. Recovery from the nephrotic syndrome was complete after removal... 

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