What is methyl mercury used for?
Methylmercury is used in fluorescent lights, batteries, and polyvinyl chloride. It is a common pollutant of air and water.
How does methyl mercury affect the body?
The primary health effect of methylmercury is impaired neurological development. Therefore, cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills may be affected in children who were exposed to methylmercury as foetuses.
What is the most toxic form of mercury?
The toxic effects of mercury depend on its chemical form and the route of exposure. Methylmercury [CH3Hg] is the most toxic form. It affects the immune system, alters genetic and enzyme systems, and damages the nervous system, including coordination and the senses of touch, taste, and sight.
What is the disease caused by methyl mercury?
Minamata disease is a methylmercury poisoning with neurological symptoms and caused by the daily consump- tion of large quantities of fish and shellfish that were heavily contaminated with the toxic chemical generated in chemical factories and then discharged into the sea.
What causes too much mercury in the body?
The most common cause of mercury poisoning is from eating seafood, but people can get mercury poisoning from industrial processing, thermometers and blood pressure machines, dental work, and old paints.
Why does mercury make you go crazy?
Mercury is a metal that can turn to vapor at room temperatures. The lungs can easily absorb this vapor, and once mercury is in the body, it can pass through cell membranes and the blood-brain barrier. Mercury is also a neurotoxin, and it can cause neurological damage that leads to hallucinations and psychosis.
Does mercury affect memory?
Effects on Infants and Children These systems may be more vulnerable to methylmercury than the brains and nervous systems of adults are. Children exposed to methylmercury while they are in the womb can have impacts to their cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, fine motor skills, and visual spatial skills.
How do you rid your body of mercury?
If you have mercury poisoning with a very high level of mercury in your blood, your doctor will probably recommend chelation therapy. This method involves using medications, called chelators, that bind to mercury in your body and help it to exit your system. Chelators can be taken as a pill or injected.
What health problems can mercury cause?
All Mercury is Toxic Depending on the type and amount, exposures to mercury can damage the nervous system, kidneys, liver and immune system. Breathing mercury vapors can harm the nervous system, lungs and kidneys. Mercury vapors can pass easily from the lungs to the bloodstream.
What causes high levels of mercury in the body?
Elevated mercury in blood usually indicates exposure to organic mercury (such as from eating fish containing methylmercury) or recent exposure to a high level of elemental mercury vapor. For most people, an elevated blood mercury level is associated with eating fish and other seafood containing organic mercury.