OBJECTIVE Concern for children exposed to elemental mercury prompted the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the sources of elemental mercury exposures in children, describe the location and proportion of children affected, and make recommendations on how to prevent these exposures. In this review, we excluded mercury exp...

Health Canada recently lowered the recommended maximum daily exposure of mercury from all sources for women of child-bearing age and for children less than 10 years. This new exposure guideline does not seem to be based on any new scientific finding of human toxicity. The average daily intake of methylmercury (mainly from fish) that may cause demonstrable health effects in the most sensitive in...

BACKGROUND It has been hypothesized that early exposure to thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative used in vaccines and immune globulin preparations, is associated with neuropsychological deficits in children. METHODS We enrolled 1047 children between the ages of 7 and 10 years and administered standardized tests assessing 42 neuropsychological outcomes. (We did not assess autism-spectr...

Rabbits were exposed to elemental mercury (Hg degrees) vapor, methyl mercury (MeHg) and HgCl2 respectively, and the relationship of mercury concentration in brain to that in blood or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was investigated after the termination of exposure. At one day post-exposure, the ratio of mercury concentration in brain (microgram Hg/g) to that in blood (microgram Hg/g) was approximate...

Nationally, the most important source of exposure to any mercury compound is the consumption of fish. Certain populations may have occupational exposures and in certain areas of NJ consumption of water from private wells can be a significant source of mercury exposure (see Volume II Chapter 7). The extent of exposure to mercury from cultural uses is not known and such practices appear to be lim...

In connection with "maximum allowable concentrations in biological materials ", I should like to express some views on the value of measuring mercury and cadmium concentrations in urine. These remarks are based on findings in human subjects and in experimental animals. Mercury which is absorbed into the body is largely excreted in the urine. From this. aspect, therefore, determination of the ur...

The aim of this study was to examine the experimental uptake of mercury and the enzymatic response, i.e., glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity, to this metal introduced into the medium under organic (methylmercury chloride) and nonorganic (mercury chloride) forms. Shoots of Posidonia oceanica were collected in a nonpolluted area in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea and were treated in aqua...

Mercury and its compounds have a wide spectrum of toxicities depending upon the chemical forms and modes of exposure. Among the various chemical forms, mercury vapor and methylmercury are well known and established as neurotoxic agents. Since the disasters in Minamata and Iraq, in which fetuses were more susceptible than adults to methylmercury exposure, much attention has been focused on prena...

Although male infertility is well researched, the effects of inorganic mercury on male reproduction and fertility are less well known. Studies pertaining to mercury and male fertility identified reduced concentration of testosterone in the serum of male workers, a toxic influence on fertility of organic mercury compounds within concentrations at the workplace, and increased days to pregnancy. W...

Elemental mercury exposures adversely affect several organ systems, with the effects of acute, high level inhalation exposures first appearing in the lungs as pulmonary dysfunction, possibly followed by respiratory failure leading to death. At lower levels of exposure, the kidneys and brain, especially the developing brain, are more sensitive targets. Short term maternal exposure to mercury vap...