Mercury is a dangerous substance, capable of attacking multiple human organs (including the kidneys and the brain), creating long-term and possibly fatal health effects, and reproductive damage. It is especially dangerous in its gaseous form, with mercury vapor being the most immediately fatal of the types because it is easily absorbed by the lungs, can deliver large doses in an extremely short amount of time, and is carried directly to the brain and other vital organs by the bloodstream.
Low-level exposure to mercury gas or vapor can quickly lead to lesser symptoms such as tremors and mental confusion. Quicksilver, or liquid mercury, is far less hazardous because it tends to be poorly absorbed by the body, and some attempts at suicide using it have failed because of this. Mercury salts are dangerous in all forms – solid, liquid, or gas – attacking the kidneys and brain, and building up in the body over time if they are absorbed in sub-toxic amounts.
Humans have been extremely reckless in their handling of mercury, using it as an internal medicine for centuries – even though it was known to be poisonous and was occasionally used in large doses to murder people – and dumping it out in vast quantities during mining, industrial production, and so on. Thus, there is a high level of mercury in both the soil near mines and factories, and a lesser but still measurable amount in almost all fish and shellfish due to the contamination of the waters by industrial effluent. Tuna, swordfish, shark, golden bass, and mackerel are especially likely to contain a large amount of mercury, so children should not eat them at all.
The most lethal of mercury compounds, dimethylmercury, can be fatal in a short time even if only a few drops of the substance touch the skin. Most mercury poisoning, however, does not have so potent an effect. Mercury damages the brain and nerves, the kidneys, and the endocrine system, and also harms the gums and teeth. The outward, visible symptoms of mercury poisoning are burning of the extremities, reddening of the face, fingers, and toes, peeling skin in the same areas, sweating, salivation, and high blood pressure. In the case of children, the teeth, fingernails, toenails, and hair may fall out and rashes may develop as well.
As if these tokens of toxicity were not unpleasant enough, mercury poisoning can also cause birth defects. The most grotesque example of this on a large scale was the outbreak of “Kawasaki disease” in Japan, when mercury effluent from a factory caused thousands of poisonings and deformed children, thanks in large measure to the refusal of the Japanese government to heed the ghastly suffering of the local population because of the polluting corporation’s political influence.
Fortunately, although mercury is a poisonous and sometimes lethal substance, mercury poisoning is not incurable, and mercury absorbed into the body from food or the environment will eventually be purged out as long as continuing absorption is stopped – as, for example, by moving away from a mercury-contaminated dwelling site, or ceasing to eat a mercury-tainted food type. Mercury poisoning can also be controlled and treated, and although some damage may be irreversible if it is too massive, those who are promptly admitted to the hospital with mercury poisoning can often be successfully treated.
