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The public health implications associated with mercury exposure has adverse neurological effects on both adults and children. The devastation that occurred that occurred in Kyush, Japan resulting in Minamata Disease helped to bring about awareness of the negative health effects of mercury exposure and the public health implications that are associated with it. Documentation was recorded of the negative health effects that directly affected the population that was either directly or indirectly exposed to the chemical waste via their main food source, fish. The general population who were not even considered Minamata Disease patients have been recently shown to have an increased risk of psychiatric symptoms (Ha, E., Basu, N., Bose-O’Reilly, S., Dórea, J. G., McSorley, E., Sakamoto, M., & Chan, H. M. 2017). Prenatal or postnatal mercury exposure had negative effects that produced complaints of tingling hands, feet and lips thirty years after exposure to mercury. The World Health Organization (WHO) concludes that people worldwide who rely on fish as their main source of protein are at an increased risk for mercury exposure. The fetus is at the greatest risk for mercury exposure in utero through the placenta. The European Union estimates that the number of children born yearly with methylmercury exposure above the limit set forth by the World Health Organization is 200,000.

Low birth weight, growth and developmental delay have also been associated with prenatal methylmercury exposure. Metabolic syndrome as well as an increase in chronic diseases can occur with the exposed children in their adulthood. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)’s have been said to be associated with exposure to mercury. A cross-sectional study that was conducted between the years of 1993-1998 in New Bedford, Massachusetts looked at the relationship between ASD’s and mercury concentrations found in hair. The study concluded that the participants with an increase in mercury concentrations that was found in their hair were diagnosed with more sever ASD’s using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS).

Ethyl mercury which is used as a preservative in vaccines is also said to be linked to the 273 percent increase in Autism cases from 1987 to 1998 in California. The relationship between ASD’s and exposure to both methylmercury and ethyl mercury should be further researched because of the data that has been discovered concerning exposure.

Mercury naturally occurs in the earth’s crust and it exists in different forms. Mercury transforms to methylmercury by bacteria. The bioaccumulation of methlymercury happens when fish and shell fish contains higher levels of mercury that their surroundings. Large predatory fish such as swordfish, marlin, king mackerel, orange roughy, grouper, or albacore tuna are more likely to have much higher concentrations of mercury from consuming smaller fish with high concentrations of mercury. Elemental mercury is just as toxic to your central nervous system (CNS) as methylmercury and exposure to elemental mercury usually occurs through occupational exposure as seen with Minamata Disease in Kyush, Japan (WHO 2017).

Hypertension was found to effect men in Korea according to one study however a cross-sectional study done in the United States on the general population din’t show a correlation between exposure to mercury and hypertension. Metabolic Syndrome which includes a combination of chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and an increased risk for blood clots has been shown more recently to be associated with mercury exposure. A cross-sectional study in Korea looked at 2,114 healthy adults’ blood mercury concentrations and confirmed these findings. A prospective cohort study done in the United States looked at the levels of mercury in the toenails 3,875 young American adults. The findings of this study concluded over eighteen years of follow-up and after adjusting several factors that included age, sex and ethnicity, increased mercury levels that were found in the toenail have a higher risk of contracting diabetes when they get older.

Reference

Ha, E., Basu, N., Bose-O’Reilly, S., Dórea, J. G., McSorley, E., Sakamoto, M., & Chan, H. M. (2017). Current progress on understanding the impact of mercury on human health. Environmental Research, 152419-433. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2016.06.042

Watanabe,C., & Satoh, H. (1996). Evolution of our understanding of methylmercury as a health threat. Environmental Health Perspective, 104 Suppl 367-379

World Health Organization (WHO), Mercury and Health Fact Sheet (2017) retrieved from: www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheet/fs361/en/