Assignment AT3: The Impact of Mercury on Human Health

Introduction

Air and Water pollution tends to affect human health both directly and indirectly. There are several activities carried out by humans that pollute water ranging from direct dumping and channeling of waste into water bodies to use of agricultural chemicals that are washed during rains into rivers. According to Prasad (2013), direct health hazards resulting from pollution include those arising from the use of polluted water for cooking or drinking purposes. Indirect impact, however, comes from the consumption of products coming from polluted water sources (Chartier, 2014). This report presents a research conducted on impact of mercury, as one of many water pollutants, on human health. The report is aimed at describing the concept of health hazards associated with mercury. It begins by providing the possible sources of mercury in water bodies. Moreover, the report is focused on providing an explanation of the reality behind the concept of hazardous impacts of mercury. The data was collected using different scholarly articles, including those presenting any relevant information on mercury health impacts and sources. The report also includes recommendations on how to handle any of the effects caused by mercury. In regard to the structure, the report will contain summarized information presented by the research, discussion and interpretation of those results and recommendations based on the research findings and interpretation.

Health Effects of Exposure to Mercury

Mercury can cause serious health impacts even if the level of exposure is quite low. It has hindering effect on the development of a fetus. It can also cause development problems to babies and young children (Bidstrup, 2014). Sources also indicate that there are adverse effects that mercury can have on immune system, digestive system, and even central nervous system. Exposure or intake of mercury can lead to eye, lungs or kidney problems. Mercury is one of the top ten most hazardous chemicals in the world. Fish concentrate mercury in their bodies, sometimes in the form of methylmercury, a highly toxic compound of mercury (Zillioux et al., 2015). There are two most common organic compounds of mercury: methylmercury and ethylmercury. Ethyl mercury poses most health threats and is used to preserve some vaccines. According to Guallaret al., (2013), cooking does not eliminate mercury.

Mercury exists in two forms: organic and elemental one. The elemental form is a metallic form of mercury. The two forms have different levels of toxicity. According to Mansour et al., (2011), both elemental and organic forms of mercury are dangerous to fetus and babies. Humans are exposed to elemental mercury when it is inhaled as a vapor. On average, the level of exposure to mercury in humans on a daily basis is 0.1uG/l. According to a report presented by the European Commission, such a level of exposure per day can be considered safe. Local pollution, traditional medicines, and exposure at work are some of other ways in which humans are exposed to mercury.

Interpretation and Discussion

Sources of Mercury

Mercury is a naturally occurring element present in the earth’s crust. The resources indicate that about 30% of mercury on the earth’s surface originates from natural sources such as volcanoes and forests (Schuurs & Davidson, 2012). However, according to Palmer et al., (2014), 70% of mercury is caused by human activities like coal burning and gold extraction. When volcanic activities occur, the compound is released from the earth’s crust into the environment, and that forms the major source of mercury in the atmosphere. That implies that even without any human activates mercury would still exist as a result of volcanic activities that take place on a daily basis. According to Schuurs & Davidson (2012), there are human activities that result in the release of mercury, for example, coal-fired power plants.

According to Govind & Madhuri (2014), because of human activities, the level of mercury has increased three to four time during the last 150 years. Coal burning for heating and cooking purposes also results to the release of mercury into the environment. Elemental mercury poses a major threat due to the inability to break down. Inorganic mercury can contaminate the air when it evaporates. This can lead to the environmental pollution at local, regional and global levels. Mercury in water sources occurs due to the transformation of elemental mercury by bacteria into organic mercury, with an example being methylmercury (Clarkson et al., 2010). It implies higher amount of mercury released into the atmosphere leads to higher amount of mercury absorbed by plankton, the basic food for fish.

When fish feed on plankton, they also consume mercury, and it becomes part of their body. According to Renzoni et al., (2015), mercury has a cumulative effect meaning that bigger fish that feed on smaller ones have a larger quantity of mercury collected from several small fish consumed. According to Harris et al., (2013), the consumption of fish exposes humans to mercury in its organic form. Mercury exposure can result in impaired vision, speaking, walking and even thinking capabilities. It has toxic effects on the nervous system.

Exposure to Mercury

One of the things that all the sources have agreed on is the idea that mercury exists in the atmosphere and everyone is exposed to it to some level. Chronic exposure is when an individual is exposed to little levels of mercury at a slow rate (Risher et al., (2012). Acute exposure, however, implies an immediate high level of exposure. This occurs mainly when people inhale large amounts of mercury. In most cases, adverse health effects are caused by elemental mercury exposure. Exposure to inorganic mercury may not have noticeable effects; in fact, in most cases the effects are not felt. Level of exposure is another important factor. Acute exposure is very dangerous. Another factor is an individual’s age. According to Francesconi & Lenanton (2014), exposure to mercury greatly affects the fetus. Most importantly, being exposed to low levels of mercury for a long time may result in negative health effects.

Effects of Exposure to Mercury

Mercury and Cancer

According to Slemr & Langer (2012), mercury is a neurotoxin, thus it affects the peripheral and central nervous systems. Researches on mice have indicated a high level of growth of some tumors indicating a possibility of cancer, but there is no data proving exposure of an individual to mercury causes cancer.

Methylmercury Exposure and Effects

An individual is exposed to this form of mercury when he/she feeds on fish containing a very high level of methylmercury. The center for disease control indicates that has all people have a certain level of methylmercury in their bodies; however, the level is too low to create any health effects. High levels of methylmercury, however, may result in adverse health effects. According to Carocci et al., (2014) some of the effects that can be experienced due to such an exposure include loss of peripheral vision. Needles and pins sensation is usually felt in hands, feet and around lips. A person can also suffer from improper coordination of movement, impaired hearing, walking, and speech.

Effect on Infants and Children

According to García-Esquinas et al., (2013), the fetus is exposed to methylmercury when mother consumes contaminated fish. The exposure affects the nervous system development including the brain. Compared to adults, methylmercury has a greater effect on infants. Moreover, exposure of the fetus to mercury may cause complications in the cognitive thinking of a child after birth and during development. Memory problems and ability to pay attention can be impaired. The child might also suffer from impaired fine motor skills and visual-spatial skills.

Effects of Elemental Mercury Exposure

Such an exposure occurs when a compound containing metallic mercury spills or breaks. In this case, mercury is released into the air resulting in air pollution. It may cause considerable health effects when inhaled (Carrier et al., 2011). The symptoms of long and acute exposure include emotional changes, a concept referred to as mood swings. Other symptoms include insomnia, tremors, headaches, changes in nervous responses, disturbing sensation and poor mental functioning (Rice et al., 2014). When one is exposed to a substantial amount of elemental mercury, there is a high of possibility of respiratory or kidney failure, or even death. Moreover, it can have dangerous effects on gastrointestinal tract and nervous system. High exposure to inorganic mercury leads to the following symptoms: dermatitis and skin rashes, mood swings and memory loss, muscle weakness, and mental disturbances.

Mercury Exposure Assessment

Expose to high levels of mercury can cause chest pain, cough, nausea, vomiting, fever, stomatitis, and metallic taste in mouth. Urine test is the most appropriate wayto assess exposure to elemental mercury. According to Zahir et al., (2015), a urinary mercury concentration of less than 20uG/L has no significant impact on body. When the concentration is between 20 and 200 uG/L, verbal skills and brain wave activities are greatly reduced. When the concentration is between 101 and 500, a person suffers from irritability, depression, memory loss, and other nervous system problems. When the concentration is between 500 and 1000, a person suffers from kidney inflammation, nervous system disturbances and swollen gums.

Limitations of Existing Knowledge

The sources, however, do not indicate a significant effect of mercury exposure on adults. The research indicates that mercury stays in the blood for about three hours and does not explain what happens to it afterwards, this leaves the question of when the symptoms are experienced open. The research doesn’t provide the answer to how the body is affected when concentration of mercury in blood becomes normal. According to Kaiser, (2012), there is a possible link between cancer and mercury exposure according to experiments conducted on mice and rats. However, according to the World Health Organization exposure to mercury cannot cause cancer (Patel et al., 2012). This leaves us with a question how the organization came to such a conclusion if there were no experiments conducted on humans.

Conclusion

It is very clear from the research that everyone is exposed to mercury the only difference being the levels of exposure. However, Australian researchers have already raised an alarm that fish from the ocean contain mercury. This is true because fish feed on plankton, which convert elemental mercury to organic mercury. They were also right when stating that fish is much more dangerous to expectant mothers because exposure of the fetus to mercury can cause considerable complications to the baby`s nervous system as a whole hence affecting his/her development. Most of the arguments of the group, therefore, hold water based on the finding of the research done. However, there are several concepts that the group left out; even without eating fish, people are still exposed to mercury since it exists in nature and is also produced as a result of human activities. Therefore, avoiding fish products would imply that the society is less exposed to mercury. They only mention its danger to pregnant women and fail to explain whether there is a possibility of it being dangerous to other adults. Other researches indicate that the possibility of exposure to mercury affecting the fetus and young children especially below thirty months is higher as compared to adults. According to the research, coal burning is the highest contributor of atmospheric mercury emissions.

Recommendations

Taking into consideration that everyone is exposed to mercury and therefore is at risk, it is important to look at the ways the group and other organizations can manage the situation. As a matter of fact, the research has indicated that apart from pregnant women, the level of exposure to mercury as a result of consumption of fish is negligible and is not capable of causing any health problem apart from the extreme cases of feeding on fish with high levels of accumulated mercury (Harris, et al., 2013; Zimmer & McKinley, 2010). The economic situation with the fish market is something that can be managed. Some of the recommended ways of handling the mercury problem are discussed. The recommendations are aimed at reducing the quantity of mercury in the atmosphere so it is not accumulated in plankton.

Promotion of Clean Energy Sources Other than Coal

According to Tchounwou et al., (2013), one of the activities adding a substantial amount of mercury to the environment is coal. MerFA group, therefore, is advised to discourage coal use. Coal is the greatest contributor of mercury into the environment which is then turned into inorganic mercury by plankton. According to Salonen, et al., (2013), reducing the level of coal will lead to reduced levels of inorganic mercury in plankton and hence in fish.

Advocate against Extraction of Mercury in the Extraction of Gold and Also the Mining of Mercury

The group needs to discourage the mining of mercury as it results to higher concentration of it in the atmosphere. The research has indicated that mercury cannot be destroyed, meaning that the already existing quantity can be recycled to help keep the amount of mercury in circulation under control (Malm, 2013; Salonen, et al., 2013). Products that contain mercury need to be replaced by alternative ones (Jones et al., 2011). The concept of use of mercury in skin lightening products is one of importanttasks this group needs to deal with. Alternative methods of extracting gold can be employed. The whole concept is to eliminate the processes that increase amounts of mercury in the environment.

Bringing on Board the Political Class

Political class for this matter is refereeing the governments involved. They are the only people who can stop the activities that result in emission of mercury into the atmosphere (Fimreite, 2011). The concept implies that the group needs to convince them that stopping those processes can reduce up to 99% of mercury concentration in the atmosphere. In the process, the explanation of the health sector approach to the issue must be provided.