MERCURY Fact Sheet Mercury poisoning can affect Indigenous peoples, all other races, all ages, cultures, geographical areas, however, developing fetuses are especially vulnerable. Methyl-mercury is one form of mercury that targets and damages the developing brain and nervous system. In some areas, Indigenous Peoples may experience higher exposures to mercury poisoning from higher consumption of fish and wildlife contaminated from mercury.

About Mercury

*Indigenous Peoples have a right to know about these toxics

What is mercury?
At room temperature, mercury is a heavy metal with the chemical symbol of Hg. Elemental mercury is an odorless silver-white liquid metal. As a liquid, it is used in thermostats, switches, and thermometers. But mercury occurs and can be used in many forms. Mercury chloride has been used as a fungicide in cosmetics, in agriculture to control root insects, and in pharmaceuticals as an antiseptic. Mercuric oxide, a red or yellow powder, is used in mercury batteries. Mercuric sulfide is used as a red pigment for plastics, linen, and paper, and an antibacterial agent in pharmaceuticals. Mercury is also used in batteries for hearing aids, watches, calculators, and cameras. The most damaging form to humans is methyl-mercury that enters our food chain when bacteria chemically break down mercury in water and soil.

Who is at risk for mercury poisoning?
Anyone can be poisoned by mercury, unless one takes proper precautions. However, the people who are most at risk for mercury poisoning are fetuses and children. Therefore, pregnant women, women planning to become pregnant within one year, nursing mothers, and children under five should be avoid exposure to mercury contamination. Human populations, such as Indigenous peoples that have higher consumption of fish and wildlife contaminated with mercury experience higher health risks from mercury poisoning. Indigenous peoples and local communities that live near lands contaminated by gold mines have higher risks.

Where does mercury come from?
From Industry - About 85 percent of the mercury becomes airborne when coal, oil, or natural gas are burned as fuel in boilers and combustion equipment or when mercury-containing municipal and medical waste is incinerated. According to the EPA, approximately 235 metric tons of toxic mercury escape from industrial smokestacks each year in the US and 69 metric tons fall back to the earth with rain and snow. Other sources include the wood-pulp and chlor-alkalai industries, mining, processing, and refining of mercury ore, burning of fossil fuels (especially some types of coal), gold mining, and the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, lime, cement, and batteries. Smaller amounts come from old latex paint, landfills, fungicides, laboratories, crematoriums, some electrical switches, thermometers, heating thermostats, batteries and fluorescent light bulbs also contain some mercury and can release elemental mercury vapor into the air when they are broken. Mercury amalgam is used for dental fillings.

Mining - In the US, Alaska, Canada and Mexico, mercury contamination from old gold mine operations have left a legacy of mercury-laden river and lake bottoms, soil sediments and water systems, such as estuaries and wetlands. Mercury was used to dissolve gold out of the ore. Ecological risk exists whereby soil erosion, floods and rain can activate the minute globules of mercury lurking in these sediments. Throughout the Southern Americas, these "old-school" mining practices are still occurring in the Indigenous Peoples territories. There are reports that the levels of mercury in the Amazon Basin have been rising steadily since the 1980's, potentially exposing thousands of people in the region to mercury poisoning.

From Nature - The remaining percent is airborne mercury emissions that occur naturally. Mercury a naturally occurring element found in small amounts in oceans, rock and soil. Mercury becomes airborne from these natural sources when rocks break down, volcanoes erupt, soil decomposes. Mercury slowly evaporates into the air and returns to the earth attached to small airborne particles or is "washed" out of the air by rain or snow. Mercury can also become airborne in large amounts through forest fires.

How does mercury get into our air and water?
At high temperatures (in combustion), elemental mercury is easily vaporized. In the air, it combines with natural emissions and mercury particles fall back to earth or are captured in dust, rain and snow. The wind also transports mercury contamination and this accounts for why contaminated sites can appear quite a distance from the source.

Once present in the water chemicals reactions convert mercury to methyl-mercury. Tiny aquatic organisms and bacteria in the soil absorb methyl-mercury. Mercury passes up the food chain and accumulates in the tissues of fish, wildlife and ultimately humans who eat these animals. Bioaccumulation is the process by which organisms, including humans, absorb contaminants more quickly than their bodies can eliminate them, so that the contaminant accumulates over time.

We measure mercury concentration in parts per million (written as "ppm"). This means that a fish with a mercury concentration of 1 ppm contains 1 part methyl-mercury to 1 million parts fish.

Impact

The most likely exposure to mercury is through eating contaminated fish. There is no method of cooking or cleaning fish that will remove mercury. It affects the human brain, spinal cord, kidneys and liver, and interfaces with normal fetal development during pregnancy. Methyl-mercury can cross the placental barrier and can cause fetal brain damage without any symptoms in the expectant mother. The level of methyl-mercury in fetal blood is frequently twice as high as the level in the expectant mother's blood. High levels of mercury in infants can cause mental and physical retardation. Many states and tribes in the US and areas of Canada have developed guidelines for how often fish from certain water areas can be safely eaten. Autopsies have found elevated levels of mercury in the brains of people who have suffered from Alzheimer's disease and Lou Gehrig's disease.

Wildlife such as loons, eagles, otters, mink, whales, seals, bears, ospreys and others eat large quantities of fish and incidentally consume mercury. Some animals have elevated levels of mercury that is affecting their reproductive systems. An excess of mercury can lead to neurological impairment, especially damaging for predators who rely on speed and coordination to obtain food. Unfortunately, wildlife cannot change their eating habits in order to avoid mercury contamination.

Things to Do

Our Indigenous communities are a high-risk population. Because of our culture and spiritual traditions, many Indigenous peoples from different regions have maintained traditionally based livelihoods that depend on harvesting fish and other traditional foods for subsistence and trade. We continue to pay a higher price with our health, natural resources and our unborn generation.

"The only way to keep mercury out of our bodies is to keep it out of the environment."

Choose alternatives to mercury products. When an item containing mercury becomes waste, dispose of it properly. Contact your local tribal, county, town or village solid waste program to recycle mercury properly. Reduce energy consumption. Coal-burning plants produce large amounts of mercury pollution. Use energy efficient fluorescent light bulbs and recycle them when spent. Check with your tribe, Indian health program or state's health department to find out if there are any advisories for fish caught locally. We know it is difficult to provide advice as to when the health risks out weight the health, cultural or spiritual benefits of eating fish. A tribal and national effort is needed to reduce the mercury in emissions and in municipal and industrial waste streams. The ultimate goal should be to eliminate mercury use. Use of mercury must be phased out in both the South and the North and all new mining must cease. Mercury releases from all sources MUST be subject to tribal, state, provincial, federal and international efforts for continued minimization, with ultimate elimination as a goal. Commodity transactions and global trade in mercury must be reduced and eliminated. Long-term storage facilities must be created to assure environmentally sound storage of existing quantities of mercury (including stockpiles of mercury on military lands). In the interim, the South must not become a dumping ground for mercury-based technologies, products and/or wastes.

INDIGENOUS ENVIORNMENTAL NETWORK - PO Box 485, Bemidji, MN 56619
Tel: 218.751.4967 Fax: 218.751.0561 email: ien@igc.org www.ienearth.org