FSCN 4613 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: King Mackerel, Methylmercury, Ethylmercury
26 Apr 2020
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Document Summary
Toxic elements in our environment and potential threat to our health. Flint"s children suffer in class after years of drinking the lead-poisoned water. Degree of toxicity dependent on form of mercury (hg) Metallic mercury (indirectly considered a real problem) Chronic vapor inhalation cns disturbances, especially tremors in hands and tongue. Used in battery industry and felt hat industry. Use is most batteries eliminated in 1996. Common in felt hat making in europe in 18th and 19th centuries. Not banned in hat making in the us until early 1940s (preservative) Acute effects: damage to gi tract and renal failure when ingested. Long term effects: neurological disturbances, e. g. emotional instability, hallucinations. Methylmercury is the form of greatest concern (organic forms) Due to methylation of metallic mercury in aquatic sediments by bacteria. Metallic mercury comes from smokestack emissions, mine tailings. Goes up the food chains (goes to lakes, rivers, sediment, bioaccumulates in fish which we eat)
