1. Mercury In the Environment
By: Elizabeth Rubio
Chemistry 1A: 31192

2. Health Threats From Pollution
Since World War II, when the explosive growth of the chemical industry began, more than 70,000 chemicals have come into commercial use worldwide, and more than 1,000 new ones are proposed for manufacture each year. Yet, very little is known about the impact of most of these chemicals on human health. The National Academy of Sciences has estimated that fewer than 10% of them have been tested to the point where their ability to cause cancer or reproductive damage is understood.

3. Our Fish
Fish-eating is a major route of exposure to many pollutants because fish are good at accumulating chemicals in their bodies. Other animals are also accumulators. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that 75% of the average American's dioxin exposure is through consumption of meat and dairy products. Breathing, drinking water, and skin absorption can be other major routes of exposure, depending on the type of chemical such as mercury.

4. Birth Defects
From 1979 to 1987, the U.S. Center for Disease Control kept records of 38 types of birth defects and their incidence in roughly 15% of children born in the U.S. --- they found that 29 types of birth defects increased, 2 decreased, and 7 remained stable (changed less than 2%).

5. Birth Defects continued
The birth defects from Mercury poisoning are
Minamata disease ( a disease that causes insanity, paralysis, and death)
Ataxia
Numbness in hands and feet
Muscle weakness
Damage to hearing, speech , and vision.

6. Minamata disease
Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata city, Japan in 1956.
The disease was caused from the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corp. chemical factory, which continued from

7. Disease continued...
The toxic chemical bioaccumulated in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which was then eaten by the people who live the area and the result mercury poisoning.
In March of ,265 victims were recognized and 1,784 of them died.
In 1965 another outbreak in Niigata Prefecture .
This disease is 1 of the 4 Big Pollution Diseases in Japan.

8. Other Problems With Mercury
Mercury not only causes a disease. It also causes:
Infant deaths
Spontaneous abortions
Still births and miscarriages
Birth defects
Asthma
Hormone Disruption
Reproductive changes in both men and women
The Nervous system
Thyroid Dysfunction
Declining in Intelligence
Immune system damage
Metabolic Abnormalities
Chemical sensitivity

9. End