What are the human health effects of mercury toxicity?
Humans generally uptake mercury in two ways: (1) as methylmercury (CH3Hg+) from fish consumption, or (2) by breathing vaporous mercury (Hg0) emitted from various sources such as metallic mercury, dental amalgams, and ambient air. Our bodies are much more adapted for reducing the potential toxicity effects from vaporous mercury, so health effects from this source are relatively rare. Methylmercury, on the other hand, affects the central nervous system, and in severe cases irreversibly damages areas of the brain The most well documented cases of severe methylmercury poisoning are from Minamata Bay, Japan in 1956 (industrial release of methyl-mercury) and in Iraq in 1971 (wheat treated with a methylmercury fungicide). In each case, hundreds of people died, and thousands were affected, many with permanent damage. In milder cases of mercury poisoning, adults complain of reductions in motor skills and dulled senses of touch, taste, and sight. These milder effects are generally reversible if
