Waste Water

No specific effective therapy

• -use mercury eliminators such as penicillamine and Thiola

Environmental Control

• Stop using mercury
• Control effluent
• Environmental Restoration
• Restrict the intake of fish

New Bedford, MA

• Industrial city along the Northeast US seaboard
• Largest marine EPA Superfund for PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) contamination
• Two electrical capacitor manufacturing facilities discharged PCB wastes directly into the harbor and indirectly via discharges to the city’s sewage system

Have we learned any lessons?

• The FDA in 2001 recommended that shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish not be eaten by pregnant women and women of childbearing age who might become pregnant. It also recommended that nursing mothers and young children steer clear of these fish.

Recent Events

• Pollution 'killing Asia's dolphins'
• Tuesday, March 22, 2005 Posted: 3:40 AM EST (0840 GMT)

• A rare Chinese white dolphin swims in Hong Kong waters. River dolphins are particularly at risk of pollution.

• Only 13 of the dolphins were known to be left in China's Yangtze River where they once proliferated.

• Expelling mercury from science labs
• Schools finding safe alternatives
• Sunday, March 6, 2005 Posted: 4:48 PM EST (2148 GMT)

• Fire department and Hazmat teams enter a Washington high school after a mercury spill on March 2.

• SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Federal scientists studying the Great Salt Lake have found some of the highest levels of mercury ever measured anywhere -- prompting concern about some of the migratory birds that feed on the lake's brine shrimp.
• U.S. Geological Survey and Fish and Wildlife Service researchers were initially gathering information on selenium in the lake, but decided also to test the samples for mercury.
• Concentrations of methylmercury -- the element's most poisonous form -- exceeded 25 nanograms per liter of water. Fish consumption warnings have been issued when there was just 1 nanogram per liter.
• "We thought we would find some high levels of methylmercury," said David Naftz, the USGS research hydrologist who is heading the Great Salt Lake project, "but not some of the highest (the USGS) has ever found."

• Great Salt Lake Mercury Levels Alarm Scientists Feb. 19, 2005

• Trace metals leaching through groundwater from Wildcat Landfill (shown here) near Dover, DE resulted in contaminated sediment and surface waters. NOAA has been working to clean up this site since 1988.

Have we learned our lessons?

• Pollution of the environment has created a health hazard for man
• Steps must be taken to control environmental pollution