Mercury is encroaching into the human food chain

The increase in dissolved organic carbon concentrations has led to an increase in mercury concentrations in seawater and freshwater.

US scientists have come up with an alarming study that the amount of mercury accumulating in the ocean beds is infecting more of the terrestrial animal food chain than ever before. Scientists believe that the cause of this global level of infection is because of the stimulating effect of dissolved organic carbon.

Mercury in liquid form is less toxic, but its compounds and salts are very toxic and cause brain damage, liver, and human exposure, breathing or ingestion. One of its unique compounds is mercury dimethyl. This substance is so toxic that only a few microns fall into the skin can be fatal.

Through the bioaccumulation process, methyl mercury often enters the food chain and reaches a high accumulation level in some species such as tuna. Mercury poisoning for humans is the result of long-term consumption of certain foods and foods. Large species of fish such as tuna or swordfish usually contain more mercury than small fishes, because accumulated mercury gradually increases with the food chain.

Industrial activities and human waste are causing serious pollution for the sea.(Photo source: barentsobserver).

In nature in general and in the sea in particular, the ratio of mercury is extremely small. However, human industrial activities such as gold mining and chemical synthesis and the dumping of untreated waste in an unproductive manner have caused a high rate of mercury in the environment. just a short time.

Samples of sea and lake water collected from many parts of the world show that mercury levels have risen to a global scale. This leads to a very high risk of health effects for creatures whose main source of food is marine and seafood, including humans.

But the danger doesn't stop here.The spread and toxicity of mercury will continue to spread to an uncontrollable level because it is the plants and animals that have been contaminated with terrestrial mercury that become food sources of other plants and animals.

Previous studies focused on the spread of methyl mercury toxins through the way of seafood consumption such as shrimp fish. But now, scientists have discovered another pathway that can direct mercury directly from the sea to the surface, which is through insects that live in the water.

The contamination of methyl mercury is highly dependent on the existence of dissolved organic carbon. Therefore, scientists have collected data for more than 10 years about the concentration of mercury and carbon dissolved on a large area of ​​the New Hampshire coast (USA).

Results showed that there was a spread of mercury from the water onto the terrestrial food chain when floating invertebrates in the water were "eaten" by spiders and many other insects.

In other words, in the previous time, to avoid mercury poisoning, people only need to limit their consumption of seafood. However, in the current period, mercury has spread into too many food chains and all precautions are useless because insects are a common source of food for many different animals.

If there is more and more soluble carbon in the water, the higher the amount of methyl mercury. This again demonstrates that global warming and greenhouse activity are causing very complex consequences, one of which is an increase in the rate of methyl mercury formation in the source. fresh water and sea water.