| Popis: |
Both inorganic mercury and organic mercury compounds, including methyl mercury and ethyl mercury, are noxious pollutants known to cause deleterious neurological and cardiovascular effects in humans and profoundly affect the brains and development of infants and children (for review see Bernhoft RA. J Environ Public Health, 2012; Jung-Duck Park, Wei Zheng. J Prev Med Public Health. 45(6):344–352, 2012; Charles TD, Robert PM, Hing MC, Daniel JJ, Nicola P. J Prev Med Public Health 45(6):344–352, 2012; Bjorklund G, Dadar M, Mutter J, Aaseth J. Environ Res. 159:545–554: 2017; Counter SA, Buchanan LH, Toxicol Appl Pharmacol, 198(2):209–30, 2004). Mercury vapor released into the air from fossil fuel–generating plants and industrial processes can remain aloft for hours to days and be transported thousands of miles until it contaminates aquatic ecosystems and, ultimately, the world’s oceans. In contaminated aquatic environments, microbes convert inorganic mercury to organic mercury and the resultant compounds bioaccumulate in the aquatic food chain (Bernhoft RA. J Environ Public Health, 2012; Jung-Duck Park, Wei Zheng. J Prev Med Public Health. 45(6):344–352, 2012; Charles TD, Robert PM, Hing MC, Daniel JJ, Nicola P. J Prev Med Public Health 45(6):344–352, 2012; Bjorklund G, Dadar M, Mutter J, Aaseth J. Environ Res. 159:545–554: 2017; Counter SA, Buchanan LH, Toxicol Appl Pharmacol, 198(2):209–30, 2004). This presents a serious risk worldwide as human fish consumption supports nutrition around the globe. Human exposure to inorganic mercury is generally through inhalation, whereas exposure to organic mercury is largely due to its consumption of organomercury-containing foodstuffs (Chang LW. J Toxicol Sci, 15(Suppl 4):125–51, 1990; Sunderland EM, Krabbenhoft DP, Moreau JW, Strode SA, Landing WM. Glob Biogeochem Cycles, 23(2):GB2010, 2009).Recently, U.S. federal regulatory requirements have spurred the development of technologies and changes in industrial practices in the U.S. and industrialized nations that have significantly reduced mercury levels in the air and organic mercury levels in fish (Griggs MB. Pop Sci, 2015; Lafontaine S, Schrlau J, Butler J, Jia Y, Harper B, Harris S, Bramer LM, Waters KM, Harding A. Environ Sci Technol, 2015; Cheng-Shiuan L, Molly EL, Emily C, Daniel JM, Robert MC, Nicholas SF. Environ Sci Technol, 2016). However, current rollbacks of regulations in industrialized nations and unregulated emissions from developing nations are once again increasing levels of airborne inorganic and waterborne organic mercury. It is critical for future generations to foster the development of better, cheaper, and more efficient technologies to limit mercury pollution and protect aquatic components of the world’s food supply. |
