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Mercury Toxicity
Mercury is one of the few chemicals that is conclusively known to
cause adverse health effects in humans. This is because the effects
of Mercury on humans have been widely studied, in a variety of
circumstances and populations. Mercury is dangerous if inhaled, if
absorbed through the skin, or if it enters through any part of the
body. It is a highly toxic element and the most volatile of the heavy
metals.

Various Federal governmental agencies, and numerous States, including
California, regard Mercury as a powerful carcinogen, and a
reproductive and developmental toxin. Mercury is also poisonous to
the human nervous system. Due to its significant documented
reproductive and developmental effects, pregnant women and their
developing fetuses, women of child-bearing age, and children under
the age of 8 are most at risk for mercury-related health impacts.
These health impacts include, for example, subtle effects arising
from prenatal exposure such as delayed development and cognitive
changes in children.

Mercury can cause a variety of symptoms including chronic
inflammation of mouth and gums, personality change, nervousness,
fever, or rash. Neurotoxicity symptoms associated with Mercury and
Mercury Compounds include, but are not limited to, impaired vision,
speech, hearing, and walking; sensory disturbances; incoordination of
movements; nervous system damage very similar to congenital cerebral
palsy; mental disturbances; psychomotor retardation; and, in some
cases death. Mercury has also been linked to brain neuron
degeneration. According to the United States Public Health Service,
mercury poses the most direct danger to the brain and the kidneys. It
impairs fetal development, preventing the brain and nervous system
from developing normally. Children poisoned by mercury show lowered
intelligence, impaired hearing and poor coordination and their verbal
and motor skills may be delayed or otherwise, severely and
permanently impaired.

Knowledge of Mercury's adverse health effects is nothing new. Human
studies alone date back more than 60 years. Studies have correlated
various ailments, symptoms, and effects with Mercury for decades. For
example in the 1940's, Mercury was found to be the cause of
Acrodynia. Furthermore, disasters in Minamata, Japan, in the 1950s
and in Iraq in 1971-1972 clearly demonstrated neurologic effects
associated with ingestion of Mercury both in adults and in infants
exposed in utero.

In workplace case studies, very low exposure to Mercury has been
linked to neurologic and renal disorders. Studies have confirmed more
subtle effects such as preclinical changes in kidney function and
behavioral and cognitive changes associated with effects on the
central nervous system. Chronic exposure can result in
neuropsychiatric symptoms such as "mad hatter syndrome" or "erethism"
and include tremor, anxiety, incapacitating shyness and irritability.
Mercury is a neurological poison affecting primarily brain tissue. In
adults, permanent brain damage is focal affecting the function of
such areas as the cerebellum (ataxia) and the visual cortex
(constricted visual fields). Methylmercury also at high doses can
cause severe damage to the developing brain.

Even trace amounts of Mercury are known to be toxic to humans. In
fact, various governmental and private entities have determined that
exposures of less than 1 microgram per kilogram of body weight, per
day, can have severe adverse effects. The mercury in just one fever
thermometer is enough to contaminate more than 200 million gallons of
water.