Mercury Environmental Awareness Fact Sheet
A Fact Sheet for Indiana Residents
General Information
Mercury, a highly toxic chemical element, is found naturally in the
environment.1 The symbol for mercury is Hg; it is one of many metals
found on the periodic table, however, it is the only metal that is liquid at
room temperature.2 This property makes it very useful for a variety of
industrial and household products.
Just under one third of the mercury that is in the environment occurs
naturally, most is released into the environment by human pollution.2
Mercury is persistent in the environment therefore when pollution occurs
the element makes it into the atmosphere as well as lakes, streams and
other waterways. Once in the waterways it goes through a metabolic
reaction with bacteria creating a compound known as methyl mercury.
Methyl mercury is considerably more detrimental to humans and wildlife,
contaminating the food supply by building up in the tissues of fish and
animals.3
(F. Senese,
Frostburg State University)
Mercury Environmental Contamination
Coal fired power plants, industrial boilers, and waste combustion comprises of the majority
of the man made mercury pollution sources. While, many products that contain mercury
are used daily in our homes, it is when those products including thermometers, switches,
fluorescent light bulbs, computer monitors, and batteries are improperly disposed of that
the element negatively impacts the environment. The mercury in those products often
enters landfills where waste combustion releases it into the atmosphere.4
Source
Sourcess of
of Man
Man Made
Made Me
Mercury
rcury PPollut
ollution
ion
35%
35%
30%
30%
25%
25%
20%
20%
15%
15%
10%
10%
5%
5%
0%
0%
Meedica
dical l
M
W
a
W a ssttee
II ncinde
ncindera
rattors
ors
All Ot
Othheerr
All
S
ourc
S ourc eess
Munic
unicipa
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M
W
a
s
t
W a s t ee
C
om
bustteers
rs
C om bus
ndusttria
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IIndus
Boile
rs
Boile rs
Source
Sourcess
oal l Fire
Firedd
CCoa
owerr PPlalant
ntss
PPowe
rceent
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PPeerc
The half gram of
mercury
contained in a
mercury
thermometer is
enough to
contaminate five
million gallons
water.5
When mercury or raw materials containing mercury are used in manufacturing or as
power sources the element can enter the environment in many phases.
Source
Sourcess
SOURCE: 1997 EPA Report to Congress: http://www.nih.gov/od/ors/ds/nomercury/environment.htm
Major Source of Indiana Mercury Contamination
Over 55% of the mercury that is released into the atmosphere in Indiana is due to Indiana’s
23 coal burning power plants. The plant in Rockport, Indiana accounts for an estimated
1200 pounds of emissions emitted into the atmosphere per year. This plant leads all other
plants in the Midwest in pounds of emissions emitted.6
Mercury Movement through the Environment
Mercury moves readily throughout the
environment. Once it reaches a water source
it can either be evaporated back into the
atmosphere or it can move on in the food
chain.3
Plankton in the waterways become
contaminated with mercury and the smaller
fish such as minnows that consume the
plankton then get eaten by larger fish.7
Humans or other wildlife then eat the larger
fish. As mercury moves up the food chain it
becomes increasingly more concentrated, so
by the time it reaches humans it is at an
elevated level3. Currently, voltammetry is the
method used to determine the level of metal
in the marine system.8
(www.usgs.gov)
Mercury: Effects on Wildlife
2
•
Fish: Mercury contaminated rainbow trout suffer from impaired
development and high death rate of young. Yellow perch and
northern pike with high mercury concentrations have impaired
kidney function and endocrine disruption.
•
Birds: Contaminated loons produce lighter eggs and less than
50 percent hatch. The chicks that hatch with high mercury
concentrations affect brooding and feeding.
•
Frogs: Increasing incidence of limb deformities among species
such as bullfrogs and northern leopard frogs. These frogs spend
the majority of their lives in water. It also causes high mortality of
tadpoles and embryos.9
Mercury: Effects on Humans
In 1917, Antoine Jussieu was the first to document the effects of mercury on mine workers
in the Spanish mercury mines. His accounts stated that the slaves that worked and ate in
the mine suffered from mercury poisoning.10
The central nervous system is attacked when humans are poisoned by mercury.10 Children,
women of childbearing years, and women that are nursing or pregnant are most
vulnerable to the effects of mercury. Signs of mercury poisoning include, but are not limited
to blindness, paralysis, loss of muscular control, loss of motor skills, and birth defects.1
About 300 cases are reported each year of mercury poisoning from children exposed to
mercury from broken thermometers in Indiana alone.2
Works Cited
1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Mercury, Basic Information.
http://www.epa.gov/mercury/about.htm. Accessed March 25, 2007.
2. Indiana Department of Environmental Management. What is Mercury.
http://www.in.gov/idem/your_environment/mercury/whatismercury.html, 2007.
3. U.S. Geological Survey. Mercury in the Environment Fact Sheet 146-00. Accessed
March 25, 2007.
4. Physicians for Social Responsibility. Sources of Mercury, Mercury Fact Sheet #2.
http://www.in.gov/idem/your_environment/mercury/index.html. Accessed March 25,
2007.
5. San Francisco Department of Environment. Mercury Fact Sheet.
http://www.sfenvironment.com/facts/mercury.htm. Accessed March 25, 2007.
6. Clean Air Task Force. Mercury and Midwest Power Plants.
http://www.catf.us/publications/reports/Midwest_Mercury.pdf. Accessed March 25,
2007.
7. San Francisco Department of Environment. Mercury in our Food.
http://www.sfenvironment.com/aboutus/school/toxics/mercury5.htm. Accessed March
25, 2007.
8. Gianguzza, Antonio, Pelizzetti, Ezio and Sammartano, Silvio. Chemical Processes in
Marine Environments. Springer-Verlag Germany, 2000. Pg. 175.
9. National Wildlife Federation. Mercury and Wildlife.
http://www.nwf.org/mercury/bioaccumulation.cfm. Accessed March 25, 2007.
10. Weeks, Mary Elvira and Leicester, Henry M. Discovery of the Elements 7th Edition.
Easton, PA: Journal of Chemical Education, 1968. Pg. 46.
11. Emsley, John. Nature’s Building Blocks. Oxford, UK: Department of Chemistry,
University of Cambridge, UK, 2002. Pg. 257.
3
In the 1800’s
mercury was
used to
manufacture
felt hats. The
fumes from
the mercury
brain
damaged the
workers
making them
“mad” thus
the term “Mad
Hatters.”11
1
3
2
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
The answers to this cross-word puzzle can be found in the text of the Mercury
Environmental Awareness Fact Sheet.
Across:
1. Mercury, a highly ______ chemical.
3. Periodic table element Hg is ________.
5. A fact sheet for ___________ residents.
7. Coal burning power plants are a source of man made mercury ____________.
8. Human food source that eat mercury contaminated plankton.
9. These are found on the periodic table.
11. Nickname of the factory workers that suffered mercury poisoning.
12. Temperature gauge containing mercury.
14. Primary source of Indiana’s mercury pollution.
15. First to document the effects of mercury on mine workers in 1917.
Down:
2. _________________ loons produce lighter eggs and less than 50 percent hatch
4. The central nervous system is attacked when humans are ____________ by mercury.
6. Mercury is persistent in the environment therefore when pollution occurs the element
makes it into the atmosphere as well as lakes, _________ and other waterways.
10. Frogs spend the majority of their lives in _____________
11. It is one of many __________found on the periodic table.
13. Mercury can be _____________ back into the atmosphere or it can move on in the
food chain.
4