Hg Pollution

Human Activity Leading to Environmental Pollution by Hg

Human Activity Leading to Environmental Pollution by Hg

Introduction

Mercury is known as a metal with a great number of useful properties. But at the other end it is regarded as having a threat to human and wildlife being a poisonous element. Since mercury is used extensively in various domestic products, medicinal and manufacturing purposes. Due to its harmful effects, it is well known as an agent to expand environmental pollution. It has equal imperative toxic effects on human, plants, wildlife, and ecosystem. A great literature has been written to facilitate the world about the damaging outcomes it has. Usually, the coal burning power plants and various other chemical wastes that discharges the highly contaminated mercury which is further dumped in forests, rivers and lakes cause extremely venomous side effects on human life, plants, animals and the entire ecosystem . However there are other toxic polluting elements as well but mercury is the most researched one. Various scientists and researchers have explained the consequences of mercury on human life and ecosystem; let us move to our case to have detail analysis how mercury is negatively an outcome and become a cause of environmental pollution.

Discussion

Our case will focus on the incident that took place in Minamata, Japan way back in 1956. People after the consumption of fish and shellfish from the Minamata Bay became severely ill and many died. Methyl mercury which is regarded as highly toxic form of mercury was used in the production of plastic and its chemical waste was dumped in the Minamata Bay by a chemical plant (Toshihide, et.al, 2009, p.60). This affected the fish and shellfish in the waters which was a main diet of the inhabitants of Minamata. An incident of the same sort took place in Nigata, a close at hand town. It was researched that around 35000 people eventually died of the Minamata disease. The disease actually caused neurological disorders including the severe cases of paralysis, coma, mental insanity that concludes at death (Philippe et.al, .2010, p.1140)

Environmental Pollution Caused by Hg

Mercury and its form of gaseous elemental mercury have a tendency to be carried out at far distinct places from the point of its production and emission (Azimi, and Moghaddam, 2013, p.13). It is transported easily to the aquatic environment and brought to a close expansion of its emission on global atmosphere. The Minamata case faced the same problem of polluted environment. In 1956, the problem occurred due to the overflow of methyl mercury from various chemical plants which contaminated the aquatic atmosphere. This issue not only effected the people and the marine life on its episode but its adverse effects remained in existence for a longer period of time (Toshihide, et.al, 2009, p.62). This brought out the fact that Japan lacked the safety measures for omission of environmental pollution. New policies were brought forward and the spreading damage to marine and human life put a severe question mark for the ...