Mercury Toxicity Through the Ages - Analysis of Health Effects on Human Body Systems

Abstract

Mercury takes many different shapes in the environment. It can be found in inorganic forms like minerals, mercury vapor, mercury salts, and in organic forms bounded to carbon. Mercury is known to have a history of causing toxic effects to the nervous system. The concern is even greater with methylmercury and other organic mercury. Methylmercury has been responsible for health and environmental catastrophes, the most significant being the Minamata disaster in Japan and the "Wonder Wheat" disaster in Iraq. The "Mad Hatters" and "Danbury Tremors" are related to the exposure of inorganic and elemental mercury, respectively, and mercury vapor.

Since the onset of the modern era, mercury has remained a hazard to mankind through various mechanisms, including artisanal gold mining, combustion of biomass, the chlor-alkali industry, and some traditional medicines. Given the huge amount of damage, an essential question is posed. Can mercury be fully removed? With the many historical and current uses of mercury, has man been able to gain control of the toxic effects of mercury? What effects can be caused to prevent its risks? These questions were mainly the focus of our research. This research was also focused on the exposure to mercury, its toxicity, and the symptoms related to it, in order to prevent exposure and to identify the sources that are the most likely to put the human body at risk.We performed a mini-analytical review to gather and contrast findings from prior studies regarding the total mercury concentration and some species of locally marketed fish and determine the studies’ agreement with the WHO limit for mercury of 0.5 mg/kg in fish. A review of previous studies shows that mercury impacts the skin and the digestive system from eating large fish that are mercury contaminated. Mercury leads to a wide range of effects that can be experienced by the respiratory and nervous systems. Given the aforementioned symptoms and the effects caused by mercury, there is a need to control prolonged exposure to mercury, even if it is in a small concentration, and to evaluate the chronic health concerns that may be related to the prolonged exposure.