The advice features an easy-to-read chart and frequently asked questions and answers. Advice About Eating Fish: For Women Who Are or Might Become Pregnant, Breastfeeding Mothers, and Young – FDA and EPA issued advice about eating fish, including the best choices and types of fish to avoid (2021).NIEHS-Funded Papers Inform Efforts to Reduce Mercury Pollution (March 2018).Moderate Fish Intake by Moms Linked to Health Benefits for Kids (May 2020).Mercury Exposure Affects More Than Just the Brain - Muscles, Too (February 2022).Chen is an internationally recognized researcher on the accumulation of mercury in aquatic food webs.įurther Reading Stories from the Environmental Factor (NIEHS newsletter) Celia Chen, Ph.D., of the Dartmouth College Superfund Research Program Center, works to better understand mercury – its movement through the environment and its human and ecosystem health effects. NIEHS-funded Program Informs International Mercury Reduction Efforts – Mercury contamination is a global problem.Grand Lake Watershed Mercury Study – Researchers from Harvard University partnered with the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center to examine the relationship between fish consumption and mercury exposure in people who regularly eat fish from the Grand Lake watershed in Oklahoma.The association allows researchers to assess the threat mercury may pose to ecosystem function.
National Parks – NIEHS-funded researchers at Dartmouth College contributed to research that found mercury concentrations in dragonflies were similar to those found both fish and amphibians from the same locations. Dragonflies Provide Insight Into Mercury Pollution Across U.S.Find a link to advice about eating fish below. Children born to these mothers may exhibit motor difficulties, sensory problems and cognitive deficits. Pregnant women who eat fish high in mercury on a regular basis run the risk of permanently damaging their developing fetuses. But consuming large quantities of contaminated fish can increase exposure to mercury. As part of a healthy eating pattern, eating certain fish may offer heart health benefits and lower the risk of obesity. NIEHS, FDA, and EPA studied health effects of methylmercury on humans from consuming contaminated fish. Methylmercury is found in both freshwater and saltwater fish and marine mammals.Ī video from the NIEHS-funded Dartmouth Superfund Research Program explains how mercury enters seafood, why eating low-mercury fish is important for good health, and the need to reduce mercury in the environment. When larger fish eat those smaller fish, most of the methylmercury originally in the small fish is then stored in the larger fish. For example, small fish may eat food containing methylmercury particles, and some of those particles remain in their tissues. From there, methylmercury can enter and accumulate in the food chain. Methylmercury, one of the metal’s forms, can attach to small particles in the soil or water. Numbness and a "pins and needles" feeling in the hands, feet and sometimes around the mouth.Impaired speech, hearing and peripheral vision.
#Quicksilver mercury skin
Furthermore, skin contact with mercury can result in its absorption into the blood stream and potential health problems. A few drops can generate enough fumes to contaminate the air in a room. Metallic or elemental mercury – an odorless, shiny, silver-white liquid – is commonly used in thermometers, barometers and fluorescent light bulbs. It exists in several forms, some of which occur naturally in the environment. Mercury is a metal that is toxic to living organisms.