Mercury in Fish
Mercury, Despite the fact that it is highly toxic, it has been used in widely around the world in situations such as extracting gold and in products such as thermometers. Although the world is working hard to cut down mercury, it remains as a major problem. (Royal Society of Chemistry N.D.)
Mercury is an artificial chemical element, a metal created by human beings. It was originally introduced by Spain and was then widely used around the world to extract gold. In modern days, China and Kyrgyzstan produce the most amount of mercury in the world through serving as catalysts in chemical industries and being used in electrical switches and rectifiers. The chemical is acquired by condensing the vapour of a cinnabar by heating it
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The chemical actually has absolutely no benefit to the human body. The National Wildlife Federation states that mercury can “adversely alter the neurological and reproductive systems of humans and wildlife.” (Tolmé 2012) Mercury has the capability of damaging the nervous system including “the nervous system including psychotic reactions, hallucinations, suicidal tendencies and delirium” (Edward 2012) An extended exposure of mercury can cause muscular spasm and can also lead to death. Once mercury enters the body, it is stored in “kidneys, blood, spleen, brain, liver, bones and fatty tissues.” (Edward 2012) The metal also has a big impact on pregnant or nursing women. It can contaminate breast milk and can increase the percentage of neural tube defects by the utero being …show more content…
Tuna [Illustration]. Retrieved from http://pixabay.com/en/tuna-fish-silhouette-black-symbol-310118/
♣ New York State Department of Health. (n.d.). Mercury spill incidents data and resources[PDF]. Retrieved fromhttps://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/chemicals/hsees/mercury/docs/mercury_spill_incidents.pdf
♣ Preventing mercury pollution. (n.d.). Retrieved from Minnesota Pollution Control Agency website: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/topics/preventing-waste-and-pollution/p2-pollution-prevention/reducing-toxicity/preventing-mercury-pollution.html
♣ Tolmé, P. (2012, November 7). Mercury’s harmful effects. Retrieved from National Wildlife Federation website: http://www.nwf.org/news-and-magazines/national-wildlife/animals/archives/2013/mercury-and-wildlife.aspx
♣ The Weather Channel. (n.d.). Which fish contain mercury? [Video file]. Retrieved fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eGAKZQDq5I
♣ What does a biochemist do? (n.d.). Retrieved from sokanu website:https://www.sokanu.com/careers/biochemist/
♣ Winner, C. (2010, October 1). How does toxic mercury get into fish? A WHOI scientist examines mysterious chemistry in the sea. Retrieved from Oceanus Magazine
In the beautiful Almaden Lake, a popular San Jose city park off Almaden Expressway, has fish that have the highest concentrations of mercury contamination in California. Based of new state studies. There are four other lakes in Santa Clara County Anderson, Uvas, Calero and Chesbro reservoirs ,rank with the top 20 lakes with fish have the highest mercury concentrations. Almaden Lake is a 66-acre park off the Almaden Expressway. It originated in the 1940s as a rock quarry on Los Alamitos Creek.
Most damages when exposed to teratogens occur during the embryonic period. Lead exposure during the embryonic period can cause stillbirths, increased risk for malformations, and VACTERL syndrome; VACTERL association is a disorder that affects
Topic: This research proposal relates closely to the textbook, Garbology, Our Love Affair with Trash. Edward Humes discusses how current landfills are constructed to protect the environment from leachate in several chapters, but in Chapter 4, “The Last and Future Kingdom,” he writes about the dangers of landfills built before the 1990s (2013). Landfills built before the 1991 regulations are not required to install barriers that protect the groundwater from carcinogens. According to the American Cancer Society, prolonged exposure to carcinogens in the environment can lead to cancer ( “Known and Probable,”2017).
Gr3 Unit 2 Learning Plan A Strange Place to Call Home: The World’s Most Dangerous Habitats and the Animals that Call Them Home by Marilyn Singer A Symphony of Whales by Steve Schuch "A Friend to the Rain forest" (Reading A-Z ) "Deep in the Ocean" (Reading A-Z) "The Hot Desert" (Reading A-Z) "Rain Forest Destruction" Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ6uP1HemkI (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. "Ocean Pollution-
Drinking contaminated water can cause different types of cancers and also infertility and birth defects due to of the presence hazardous chemicals. Impoundments that have not been built or properly closed off have led to the death of many animals and also health issues in
Mercury is a harmful toxin that can cause serious health problems to the human nervous system. The reason why dolphin meat has such a high level of mercury is because dolphins eat other fish and the more fish they eat, the more mercury they have in their systems. The dumb Japanese hunters
The refining process, only possible through mercury amalgamation, was harmful to anyone who came
“These water bodies supply our drinking water, water for agriculture and manufacturing, offer opportunities for recreation and provide habitat to numerous plants and animals.” Pollution is degrading our waters and one of the best forms to study the change in water quality is testing contaminants in fish that inhabit
Chapter five titled “Mercury” of The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum gives a fascinating story, about a woman named Gertie Gorman who was married to a man named Charles Webb. Many believed that her husband poisoned her because in her will “[she would leave] everything to her husband” (112) giving him a good motive for that action, but as the investigators opened up the body they found the presence of mercury bichloride, which was a “messy killer” (114) meaning it was hard to miss because of all the bloody inflammations. As the investigators looked more into the case they found out that Webb was not the person responsible for his wife’s death, however Webb was still prosecuted. Mercury can be poisonous if taken in extreme quantities causing the same things it did to Gertie’s body.
Chrislyn Atkinson P.8 Screenplay Critique The movie Big Fish is a film about a young man by the name of Edward Bloom and how he really liked telling stories. In the movie Edward finds out he has cancer and has very little time to live so his son Will, who he hasn’t talked to in several years, comes back to see his dad. I personally liked this film because it was really interesting and had lots of different symbols and themes so you could see it and take it anyway you wanted and it was really funny!
Miners used chemicals, such as mercury, to extract the gold from quartz and stone. However, mercury is very hazardous and leaves behind toxic chemicals that threaten people today. The mercury can get in water sources and poison the people. Miners during the Gold Rush were never thinking about the
The Gold Rush’s Lasting Legacy on the Environment The California Gold Rush from 1848 to 1855 was a time filled with excitement and prosperity, in which thousands of people came to California to pull gold from the now Sierra Mountains. Gold was one of the most sought-after mineral on this planet, often treasured for its monetary and aesthetic value. Gold has been a rarity due to its difficulty in extracting and refining. Gold is often only extracted through placer mining, hydraulic mining, and lode mining.
About 71 percent of our planet Earth is covered by water, and the majority comes from the oceans (about 96.5 percent of all Earth’s water). It remains as the most expansive, diverse, and mysterious places on planet Earth. But it is being threatened by the pollution by people and nature itself. By polluting the habitat of marine organism will indirectly affect the ecosystem of the marine life. Marine life is dying and as the result the oceanic ecosystem is threatened.
While researching about how pollution affects sea turtles, we faced some issues on finding different types of pollution. As most people know, the plastic waste that is being dumped into the oceans and onto the beaches is becoming a main food source for sea turtles. When sea turtles see this trash, they consume the plastic causing death or severe sickness which has caused this species to become endangered. They also get tangled with the plastic in the ocean restricting them from normal movement and function. During our research, we found that there are more types of pollution affecting sea turtles than just plastic waste in the ocean.
Marine pollution such as presence of organic matter in the ocean can result in the condition known as hypoxia or oxygen depletion and this can have adverse effect on the marine life including plant and animals and fish. Death of these fish can result in loss of millions of US dollars that are generate from the fishing industry. Marine pollution can also result in presence of foul smell resulting from the decomposing sewage being directed to the ocean and this has the effects to hinder recreational activities taking place in the sea as well as cause discomfort and breathing problem to the surrounding population (Laura, 11).marine pollution can also result in danger to human health. The human swimmers and water sport lovers can become endangered by swimming in the polluted marine waters (Laura,