| Popis: |
Mercury has been used industrially and commercially for a variety of purposes through the years. It was used extensively in medicine, for example, in pharmaceuticals as an antiseptic, antisyphilitic, and diuretic agent, in the processing of radiological films, as a weight in Miller-Abbott tubes, and in medical devices, such as thermometers and sphygmomanometers. However, its toxic effects in man have been a subject of growing concern among clinical toxicologists over the past 70 years, along with growing attempts to limit or ban its use in everyday items and protect the public from exposure. In particular, its toxic effects in both children and adults can be seen even at low-level, chronic environmental exposures. Mercury also passes to the placenta; its potent effects on the growing fetal nervous system can be devastating. In this chapter, we review in detail three of the most serious disasters involving methylmercury contamination of foodstuffs: at Minamata Bay, Japan, in 1956, Niigata, Japan, in 1965, and throughout Iraq in 1971. |
