Human activities such as mining, smelting, and coal combustion dis­ perse mercury that can be methylated by bacteria to produce methyl­ mercury, a potent neurotoxicant. Methylating bacteria thrive in aquatic sediments rich in organic matter, and methylmercury biomagnification eventually leads to heavy contamination of top predators, including fish consumed by humans. Although fish and seafood a...

BACKGROUND: Public laws regulating dredged material disposal (Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 103 of the Ocean Dumping Act) require ecological evaluation prior to the permitting of operations. Assessment of the potential for bioaccumulation of chemical contaminants in sediment, including heavy metals, is required as part of the evaluation process. Metals can represent significant...

conclusions experimental results showed that mcns is an excellent sorbent for removal of mercury ions from petrochemical waste water. in addition, highly complex matrix of this waste does not affect the adsorption capability of mcns. results an effective hg (ii) removal (99.8%) was obtained at ph 6, with 50 mg of mcns for an initial concentration of this ion in petrochemical waste water (5.63 m...

A commercially available direct mercury analyzer (DMA) based on sample combustion, pre-concentration by amalgamation with gold, and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) was coupled to a sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). The combined system (DMA-ICP-MS) was optimized and evaluated for the determination of mercury in environmental samples using both external...

The health care industry is a major contributor to environmental pollution. Through the processes of waste disposal, including incineration, the health care industry is one of the largest contributors to environmental dioxin and mercury. Mercury contamination of our waterways has created the conditions by which a significant number of fish are sufficiently mercury-laden so as to pose a human he...

Mercury (Hg) is one of the main chemicals currently altering Mediterranean ecosystems. Red mullet (Mullus barbatus and M. surmuletus) have been widely used as quantitative bio-indicators of chemical contamination. In this study, we reassess the ability of these species to be used as efficient bio-indicators of Hg contamination by monitoring during 18 months Hg concentrations in muscle tissue of...