MERCURY IN RIVERS AND THE ATMOSPHERE

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There are three things that humans and animals alike cannot do without. They are air, food and water. This article deals with water and specifically, mercury in water and the atmosphere.

Mercury is a natural component of the Earth’s crust and it is extracted from ores in the Earth’s crust. It is a metal in liquid form. It is silver in colour and if you drop it on the floor, it splashes into small drops all moving separatly over a portion of the floor. If a drop of mercury bumps into another drop of mercury, the two drops become a single larger drop of mercury.

Mercury is used in laboratories for making thermometers, barometers, diffusion pumps, and many other instruments. It is used for mercury switches and other electrical apparatus. It is used as an electrode in some types of electrolysis and for making batteries. Obviously it plays an important part in our lives. It is also used in thermometers because mercury doesn’t stick on anything and it will expand by any form of heat. 

 Mercury is extremely toxic because it can enter the body through inhalation, ingestion or skin absorption. It’s bad stuff and is simply best avoided.

The effects of mercury exposure vary depending on the form and level of exposure. Acute exposure to mercury vapor can produce serious effects on the nervous system including psychotic reactions, hallucinations, suicidal tendencies and delirium. Continued exposure can produce violent muscular spasms and even death. When it enters the body, it is stored in the kidneys, blood, spleen, brain, liver, bones and fatty tissues. It is dangerous for pregnant or nursing women. Breast milk can become contaminated and in utero exposure to mercury has been attributed to an increase in neural tube defects.

The first emperor of China was said to have taken mercury pills to give him eternal life. Instead the mercury pills destroyed his system and eventually he died. Years ago, hat makers used mercury to stiffen and form hats. This exposure lead to the high mortality rate of hat makers, but not before driving them mad. How did the men who wore those hats fair?

One of the worst ways mercury is still used is the dental industry's use of mercury amalgam fillings. If you have these, my advice is get them removed. If you need a filling, make sure your dentist does not use this toxic substance.

Mercury is often a danger in industrial settings and exists in power plants that use coal. Some medical applications, including vaccine production, involve mercury. Efforts to control mercury exposure have existed in the form of the 1990 United States Clean Air Act as well as activity by the EPA but mercury still remains a toxic and prevalent toxin in our environment.

If mercury exposure happens through diet or environmental toxins, then your diet or environment are due for an adjustment. 

Injesting the herb Cilantro has long been thought to facilitate the removal of toxic metals, including mercury, from the body. You may also benefit from a rudimentary body cleansing protocol such as the Oxygen Colon Cleanse Program to get your body to an appropriate baseline so as to begin a Toxic Metal Cleanse to remove the toxic metals from your body.

Thiomersal (Thimerosal), a compound containing mercury and  is a preservative used in many vaccines and some other pharmaceutical products  such as nasal sprays, eye drops, antiseptic and diaper rash ointments). It is also commonly used in tattoo inks. This compound is also commonly used in the manufacture of mascara. Mercury is commonly used in mercury-vapor lamps and is used in some advertising signs as an alternative to the more widely used neon sign. Mercury is also used in many fluorescent lamps.  It is also used in the production of chlorine and caustic soda.

 Mercury is no longer used for many different applications because of worries about its safety. In the past it has been used for gold and silver mining, light switches, batteries, in barometers and other scientific equipment, preserving wood and used in many other industries.

Let's face it, human history is cluttered with screw-ups of catastrophic proportion. An example of Mankind’s stupidity would show up on a list that would extend for miles involving the incorrect disposal of unwanted mercury which is obviously one act of stupidity that really stands out. Here is a n example of outright stupidity. Here is an example of such stupidity.

The Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was a humorous character with a good excuse for his misconduct. He suffered from chronic mercury poisoning.  But the same story a little closer to home isn’t so funny.  Although no one has yet described a “mad angler” syndrome in Northern Wisconsin, you can’t ignore the grumblings of anglers who are becoming angry over the growing list of lakes which carry warnings from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) that their fish are unsafe to eat due to high mercury levels.

, The DNR’s fish advisory for mercury contamination stands at 321 lakes and river segments and includes many favorite Wisconsin fishing waters such as Lake Wissota, Tomohawk Lake, Trout Lake, Lake Monona and segments of the Wisconsin, Wolf, Black and St. Croix rivers.  Most lakes in the state have yet to be tested, but so far roughly one out of every three has had some fish - most often walleyes - with unsafe mercury levels.

The mercury that ends up in our lakes and fish comes from a variety of sources, both natural and human.  While natural levels of mercury have never been a health threat in our food, man-made levels have.  Studies of the sediments (soil) at the bottom of northern Wisconsin lakes show a quadrupling of mercury since the late 19th century, when industry came to our state.  High mercury levels in otherwise pristine lakes of the far north reveal the importance of mercury fallout from the air, similar to acid rain, which originates with air pollution far upwind.

Biologist Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published in 1962. The book that was about widespread agricultural pesticide use and how toxic chemicals like DDT were threatening insects, birds and other wildlife had garnered widespread acclaim and is heralded as a catalyst for the modern environmental movement.

That same year, a pulp and paper mill in Dryden, Ontario began dumping untreated mercury waste into the Wabigoon River which included more than 9,000 kilograms up to the year of 1970. The mill was upstream from several First Nations communities, including Grassy Narrows, home to the Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek people. Mercury contamination has triggered an ecological crisis that has devastated the local environment and community members’ health to this day.

It is incredible for any manufacturer to be so indifferent to the health of human beings to do such an egregious act.

One of the primary goals of WHO and its member states is that “all people, whatever their stage of development and their social and economic conditions, have the right to have access to an adequate supply of safe drinking water. A major WHO function to achieve such goals is the responsibility to propose regulations, and to make recommendations with respect to international health matters.

The American city of Royal Oak found lead concentrations exceeding the “Action Level” after water testing.  The city sampled water from 30 homes served by lead service lines that included lead in the summer of 2019. Eight of the 30 test sites test exceeded the 15 parts-per-billion concentration "Action Level" established by the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act when tested after the water in the plumbing had stagnated for a minimum of six hours.

Royal Oak, an American city  found lead concentrations exceeding the Action Level after water testing. The city sampled water from 30 homes served by lead service lines in the summer of 2019. Eight of the 30 test sites test exceeded the 15 parts-per-billion concentration "Action Level" established by the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act when tested after the water in the plumbing had stagnated for a minimum of six hours.

The city noteed in a press release that the Action Level is not a health-based standard and the city's exceedance is not a violation of the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act.

“Releasing a public advisory is intended to begin a conversation with all the water customers so they can make educated choices based on factors present in their homes,” said Interim City Manager David Gillam in a press release. “The public advisory is not meant to scare our residents. We do not have a drinking water crisis in Royal Oak, but we do want to work with any residents who want to improve water quality in their homes.” Out of 23,741 total service connections, the city estimates that 6 percent, or approximately 1,400 services, have lead or lead-containing materials. “ Unquote  In my opinion, that was  a crisis because small parts  of lead can accumulate in a human body.

Until relatively recently, lead was added to petrol to raise its octane rating. After decades of cars emitting this into our atmosphere, scientists began to find high levels of lead in the air of our cities and along major traffic arteries. Even after lead is no longer added to fuel, the lead remains in our urban environment and re-enters the atmosphere when disturbed. his means that all of s inhaled that lead into our bodies.

As to be expected. human beings have the incredible ability to be stupid enough to cause harm to all of our bodies.