Pros And Cons Of Mercury Poisoning

While dancing cats may sound like a funny Youtube video, it truly means trouble. When a factory started polluting a nearby water source, mercury poisoning, also known as dancing cat disease, broke out in Minamata, Japan. Chisso was the name of the factory which was established in 1906. Originally, the company produced fertilizer, but later switched to producing chemicals such as acetylene, vinyl chloride, octanol, among others. These chemicals were used in plastics and fuel. Instead of disposing the waste products in their designated area, Chisso dumped them into Minamata Bay. Mercury was one of these products (“Mercury Poisoning,” 2008). Mercury is very poisonous element that has been used for centuries. When heated and cooled, it expands …show more content…
Biomagnification is when a chemical becomes more concentrated as it moves up the food chain. When mercury mixes with water, it converts to methylmercury through the process of biogeochemical. Methylmercury can be absorbed into the human body easier than mercury because it has the ability to get through natural barriers. Biomagnification causes mercury to be a very large problem in humans. First, the mercury is dumped into the water where it converts to methylmercury. It is then absorbed into autotrophs, such as seaweed, which are not harmed by the mercury. Next, a heterotroph, like a fish, eats the seaweed and the concentration of methylmercury grows. This process keeps repeating and eventually the mercury gets to a human where it becomes even more concentrated. In contrast, mercury does not bioaccumulate meaning the concentration will remain the same unless the individual is exposed to more mercury (“Mercury in the Food Chain,” 2013). The problem was both local and global; while it effected Japan the most, mercury was used throughout the world and the disaster taught people the dangers of the …show more content…
In 1956, when the first patient (a five year old girl) was brought to a hospital, the doctors were puzzled by her symptoms. When people living around the girl started to display similar symptoms, they concluded that it was a contagious disease. They took action by disinfecting the houses of the affected patients and keeping the patients in quarantine. Environmental effects such as birds falling from the sky, dead fish floating to the top of the water, cats spontaneously dying, and seaweed not growing, caused Kumamoto University to form a research group to investigate the disease. The toxicologists looked to fish as the cause since it is the staple food in Japan, and all the affected organisms ate fish. When they tested the fish, they identified extremely high levels of mercury. They then tested the hair of the victims and also found abnormally high mercury levels. This discovery led them to Chisso which at the time knew about the mercury in the bay, but didn’t practice the precautionary principle. This means that even though they knew about the possible damage, they didn’t take actions to remove or reduce it. (Allen & Burns, 2009, para. 8-13). During the time of the accident, science helped the researchers find the cause of this disease outbreak. In contrast, science didn’t benefit scientists trying to find a cure because they were never able to find one. Since they weren’t

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Pros And Cons Of Mercury Poisoning

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