Mercury rule lets hazardous air pollutants off the hook O n March 15, the U.S. EPA issued the long-awaited and controversial rule establishing trading as the mechanism for reducing mercury emissions from coal-fired plants. Although the debate over the rule focused on how best to control mercury releases, critics say that an opportunity to also regulate several other hazardous air pollutants (HA...

This case study describes a collaborative project to reduce mercury in hospitals in Ecuador and Mexico and at the same time, to train environmental health and safety specialists and hospital staff on a process for reducing occupational and environmental hazards. The ultimate goal was to increase expertise in pollution prevention among hospital workers and enable hospitals to advance mercury red...

Mercury pollution was compared in two Oregon reservoirs of similar size and age, located within the same ecoregion. Cottage Grove Reservoir was distinguished by a history of mercury mining and processing within its watershed, while Dorena Reservoir was not. Mercury concentrations in sediments of the reservoirs, tributary streams, and three species of fish were measured. Sediment mercury concent...

The World Health Organization (WHO), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have recommended the use of hair for worldwide environmental monitoring. Mercury exposure to the inhabitants of Karachi was assessed by using hair as bioindicator. Hair samples of 200 residents of Karachi were collected and analyzed through cold vapor atomic absorption spect...

In the past, human activities often resulted in mercury releases to the biosphere with little consideration of undesirable consequences for the health of humans and wildlife. This paper outlines the pathways through which humans and wildlife are exposed to mercury. Fish consumption is the major route of exposure to methylmercury. Humans can also receive toxic doses of mercury through inhalation...

Mercury is a toxic pollutant emitted from both natural sources and through human 7 activities. A global interest in atmospheric mercury has risen ever since the discovery of the 8 Minamata disease in 1956. Properties of gaseous elemental mercury enable long range transport 9 which can cause pollution even in pristine environments. Total gaseous mercury (TGM) was 10 measured from winter 2016 to ...

Here, we report about a unique aquatic fungus Mucor hiemalisEH8 that can remove toxic ionic mercury from water by intracellular accumulation and reduction into elemental mercury (Hg0 ). EH8 was isolated from a microbial biofilm grown in sulfidic-reducing spring water sourced at a Marching's site located downhill from hop cultivation areas with a history of mercury use. A thorough biodiversity s...

Mercury contamination in water has been an issue to the environment and human health. In this article, mercury in marine and oceanic waters has been reviewed. In the aquatic environment, mercury occurs in many forms, which depend on the oxidation-reduction conditions. These forms have been briefly described in this article. Mercury concentrations in marine waters in the different parts of the w...