Effects of Mercury Contaminated Fish on Consumer’s Health Essay

hectogram is an element that comes natively in genius, or manufactured by humans.  It comes in different forms.  According to the New island of Jersey Department of Health, quicksilver may be name as gilded quicksilver, a kind of silver-gray liquid that is harmful when exposed into the air and breathed in methyl hectogram, which may be sucked by eating slant inorganic mercury which go off be shew in over-the-counter drugs, batteries, and opposite pharmaceuticals, and is harmful when breathed in or swallowed and phenylmercury in household products bid paints, cosmetics  and toiletries and is harmful when breathed in, swallowed or passed finished the skin (Kapsch, et. al, 1999).            This paper delves into the mercury and its harmful effectuate on the seek population and ultimately, adverse effects on  human wellness. quicksilver in the Environment            As storied to a higher place, mercury is found naturally in the environment.   Paul Kapsch, Matt Landi and Sarah Scwartz writes that natural incidents and accidents analogous forest fires and vol tailic eruptions spew mercury into the air (1999).            The inseparable Resource Defense Council adds that  power plants and certain chemicals manufacturers, as well as other(a) industrial facilities release mercury into the air through their mundane operations.  The released mercury eventually ends up in the waterways and oceans.  Fish in these ecosystems ingest the mercury, which tribe, in turn ingest by eating the fish. (NRDC, 2006).            Mercury is to a fault present in many things that one has at home like fluorescent and neon lamps, mercury switches in chest freezes, ther almostat probes, thermometers, barometers and other gauges, laboratory solutions and even dental amalgam (Kapsch, et. al, 1999).            Paul Kapsch and his partners outlined the environmental impact of mercury.  Citing ExtoxNet (1999), Kapsch, et. al, stated that while mercury enters the environment, concentrations in the air and melodic line is generally very low.  Mercury, however, is deposited into forest ecosystems where it accumulates in highly toxic forms.  eventually it leads up to aquatic ecosystems, which in some cases contribute to human wellness problems.            The Natural Resource Defense Council added that when mercury enters into the various water systems, bacteria off it in and convert it into a type of methyl mercury, which is soft absorbed by humans (1999).  The NRDC to a fault explained that the mercury then works it way up the food chain as larger fish eat smaller dirty fish.  Mercury, however, does non break down.  Instead i t accumulates in fish (1999).            To gruesomeustrate the point, the NRDC stated that predatory fishes like sharks and mackerel collapse been found to have 10,000 times higher mercury concentration (1999).How Mercury Enters the consistency            Mercury can enter the body by breathing it in, swallowing or eating contaminated food, drinking contaminated water , or through the skin ( path for virulent Substances and Disease registry, 2008).            Consumption of contaminated fish, however, is one of the most unplayful way of getting mercury in the body since it involves methylmercury, which is substantially absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract into a persons bloodstream (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2008).            In 2003, Dr. Jane Hightower, doctor of internal medicament at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, found that 89% of participating patients had high mercury levels.  Most of these participants had as a good deal as four times the invulnerable level of mercury in their blood stream.  Participants in Dr. Hightowers study were chosen precisely because of their fish-heavy diets. (NRDC, 2006).            erst in the bloodstream, the mercury goes into various parts of the body.  Methylmercury in heavy(predicate) women gets passed on into the childs blood stream and then into the childs brain.  A nursing mother may pass the methylmercury through pinhead milk. (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2008).Health Risks            The NRDC says that mercury ikon can be particularly hazardous for pregnant women and small children.   The NRDC adds that mercury exposure can lead to cerebral palsy , mental retardation, blindness and deafness in infants and fetuses.  purge with a minimal exposure, the child may be delayed in learning how to walk and talk, have low attention span and may later on develop learning disabilities  (NRDC, 2006).            And the numbers argon alarming.  In July 2005, researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 1 in 17 women of childbearing age have much than 5.8 micrograms of mercury per liter of blood.  The CDC stated that this level may pose a transport a chance to the developing child (NRDC, 2006).            Mercury-contaminated fish is not just dangerous for children and pregnant women but it is excessively dangerous for adults (Mercola.Com, 2003).  Mercola.Com related that mercury destroys the nerve tissues, the optic cortex and the cerebellum.  It affects complex movements and balance.&nb sp It also leads to problems in attention span and language.  It also mitigates concentration, deftness and verbal memory in adults.  (Mercola.Com, 2003).            For some adults, mercury toxic condition can lead to fertility problems and blood pressure regulation problems.  It also causes memory loss, vision loss, numbness in the fingers and toes, and tremors.  It is suspected that mercury exposure also leads to heart disease (NRDC, 2006).            The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry warned that the nervous system is prone to mercury contamination.  The Agency said that in this type of mercury poisoning, some people who consumed seed grains and fish contaminated with large amounts of methyl mercury developed severe brain and kidneys damage.   The Agency explains that mercury accumulates in the kidneys, so it damages it more.  (Agency for To xic Substances and Disease Registry, 2008). * * *            The above discussion shows that consumption of mercury contaminated fish is very dangerous for consumers health, and is a source of different diseases especially in  (but not limited to) children and pregnant women. Studies have concluded that mercury poisoning have caused several conditions and diseases from simple memory loss, loss of concentration, fertility problems to something as heavy(p) and irreparable as mental retardation and kidney ailments.  And studies on the relationship in the midst of mercury and other, more life-threatening diseases like heart ailments are shortly underway.  The growing body of evidence all points to some disease that can be traced to mercury poisoning.            Consumers have to actively control their fish diets.  If they are fond of eating fish, they ability find it useful to regularly picture and look for advisories regarding mercury contamination in their area.  It is also recommended that they regularly assure their own mercury levels and if they found their mercury levels higher they have to cite with their doctors immediately.            Since mercury poisoning is more dangerous to pregnant women and small children, it might be best to veer away from eating fish altogether, and demand up healthier choices such as vegetables and dairy products.  Being more vigilant with regards to ones diet can reap long-run prevention that would help ensure optimum health.            Authorities need to take much stronger steps to protect a far greater good deal of people.  Authorities must examine their antiquated safeguards designed to protect an modal(a) person  from an average amount of methyl mercury in fish and take more protective and realistic actio ns against exposure to methyl mercury through food. Authorities need to constantly update themselves, as safe levels of mercury in the diet are constantly changing.  In fact, the panache is that the required safe levels are getting higher with each sore research that goes out of the pipeline.            Public health authorities, as well as community leaders, or any health-related organization, must come together to inform, evolve and empower the prevalent about the dangers of fish consumption, mercury contamination, and adverse health effects.  Information is the best weapon against mercury contamination, without it, no amount of public policy pass on be sufficient or effective.  The public require to be aware of what mercury does to the body, the diseases associated with it, where mercury could be found, how it gets into your body, what measures are to be done.            More than anything, it is high time to look at more in force(p) ways of disposing all types of mercury.  Since mercury could be found in nature, it will be next to impossible to eradicate it.  What one could hope for is to dilute environmental damage from the mercury that we can control.  If people could somehow take care and reduce the amount of mercury that goes into the environment as waste, people would be protecting not only the oceans and the fish, but also themselves.  pickings care of the environment would ensure sustainability in the future and would drastically decrease mercuryand in fact and principleall types of contamination.            In effect, stop or greatly reducing mercury contamination and all the ill effects associated with it takes the effort of everybody in the community, but it starts mainly with your self.   ReferencesAgency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (Content source) Sidn ey Draggan and EmilyMonosson (Topic Editors). 2008. Public Health Statement for Mercury. In encyclopaedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C. Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). First published in the cyclopaedia of Earth November 13, 2007 Last revised January 24, 2008 Retrieved April 2, 2008. <http//www.eoearth.org/article/Public_Health_Statement_for_Mercury>Jeremy Laurence, (8 March, 2007) Fish Contaminated With Mercury Pose Worldwide Threat toHealth. The Independent.  Retrieved on 3 April 2008. <http//www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/fish-contaminated-with-mercury-pose-worldwide-threat-to-health-439267.html>Kapsch, Paul, Landi, Matt and Schwartz Sarah. (1999). Mercury. University of Vermont. Retrieved on 3 April 2008. <http//www.uvm.edu/vlrs/doc/mercury.htm>Learn About Mercury and Its Effects, (2006) Natural Resource Defense Council. Retrieved on23rd March 2008. <http//www.nrdc.org/he alth/effects/mercury/effects.asp>Mercury-Contaminated Fish Poses Health Risks to Adults, (2003) Mercola.com. Retrieved on25th March, 2008. <http//articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/ chronicle/2003/06/21/mercury-fish-part-six.aspx>