![]() ATSDR has reported that very small mercury exposures are not necessarily harmful to one’s health, but active research is ongoing. The general population may experience exposure from dental amalgams or seafood. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has listed safe levels of mercury for humans in air, soil, and water. Mercury is present in water, air, and soil. ![]() Because mercury is ubiquitous, exposure to mercury does not necessarily lead to illness. Some mercurochromes have been used as preservatives and antibacterials thimerosal, which contains less than 2% mercury, has been suspected but not proven to affect autism rates.Įnvironmental sources. ![]() In 1994, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) estimated 70,000 workers were exposed to mercury in the United States 10% to 20% were estimated to experience intoxication. Literature has discussed this as a possible low-level hazard in the dental workplace. Metallic mercury is used in dental amalgams. Natural gas from certain sites has been reported to contain elemental mercury, and this exposure can occur in inspectors and maintenance or equipment workers at these sites. A ban in the United States on using mercurous nitrate in the hat-making industry was finally instituted in 1941.Įxposure to elemental mercury vapor occurs in the chloralkali industry during chlorine manufacturing. Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter from the children’s tale Alice in Wonderland is literature’s most famous victim of mercury toxicity. Mercury poisoning in hat makers resulted from prolonged exposure to mercury vapors in poorly ventilated factories. Inorganic mercury is used in photography, antiseptics, tanning processes, embalming, felt manufacturing, and wood preservation methods. Mercury is also found in electronic equipment, such as batteries, switches, rectifiers, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and mercury vapor lamps. Mercuric salts are used in gold, silver, and bronze plating processes. Toxicity of these and other organic compounds have only been recognized in this century.Įlemental mercury is used in barometers, thermometers, and gauges. Phenylic mercury compounds are less toxic than alkyl mercury compounds. ![]() Mercuric chloride is readily dissolved, ionized, and absorbed and is more toxic than the less soluble mercurous chloride. Mercury exists in three oxidative states and also forms univalent (mercurous) and bivalent (mercuric) compounds. Elemental mercury, also called quicksilver or liquid silver, is a liquid at room temperature. Mercury is extracted from ore called cinnabar (HgS) by a roasting process. Occasional cases are still reported today. Calomel, a type of inorganic mercury salt also known as “sweet mercury,” was used in laxatives and teething powders, the latter leading to outbreaks of “pink disease” or acrodynia, a hypersensitivity syndrome to elemental mercury that can occur in children ( 85 39). Today, dental amalgams, eye ointments, dermatological antiseptics, and hemorrhoidal sclerotics are still common medical sources of mercury. Teething powders and antihelminthics are now rarely made with mercury ( 80 85). Mercury and its salts were used as salves for syphilitics until the mid-20th century. Later, occupational hazards of mining metallic mercury were associated with a slow death. Mercury has been known to cause illness in artists, gilders, gold refiners, and workers using metals in dyes, cosmetics, and unguents since Roman times. Inorganic mercury is historically associated with environmental epidemics in Iraq and Japan, illness in occupational settings, and bizarre poisonings that have led to detective investigations. Blood mercury is most appropriate for short-term exposures.
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