BACKGROUND The scientific discoveries of health risks resulting from methylmercury exposure began in 1865 describing ataxia, dysarthria, constriction of visual fields, impaired hearing, and sensory disturbance as symptoms of fatal methylmercury poisoning. OBJECTIVE Our aim was to examine how knowledge and consensus on methylmercury toxicity have developed in order to identify problems of wide...

BACKGROUND Methylmercury is an organic form of mercury that is highly toxic to humans. Here, we present and establish a novel method to detect methylmercury concentrations in the blood of Koreans. METHODS Methylmercury concentration was analyzed with an automated methylmercury analytic system (MERX, Brooks Rand Co., USA) using cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrophotometry (CVAFS). A variet...

Selenium, a nutrient, and methylmercury, a developmental neurotoxicant, are both found in fish. There are reports that selenium sometimes ameliorates methylmercury's neurotoxicity, but little is known about the durability of this protection after low-level gestational exposure. Developmental methylmercury exposure disrupts behavioral plasticity, and these effects extend well into adulthood and ...

* A part of this article was translated to English and then restructured from the content of the paper entitled “Usefulness of mercury concentrations in umbilical cord as biomarkers of fetal exposure to methylmercury” by Murata, K., Dakeishi, M., Shimada, M. & Satoh, H. (Nippon Eiseigaku Zasshi, 62, 949-959, 2007), originally written in Japanese. Received August 27, 2007; revision accepted for ...

BACKGROUND Fish and seafood provide important nutrients but may also contain toxic contaminants, such as methylmercury. Advisories against pollutants may therefore conflict with dietary recommendations. In resolving this conundrum, most epidemiologic studies provide little guidance because they address either nutrient benefits or mercury toxicity, not both. OBJECTIVES Impact on the same healt...

We are concerned that certain aspects of the systematic review on methylmercury (MeHg) exposure from seafood consumption and the risk of developmental neurotoxicity published in the Bulletin of World Health Organization could be misinterpreted.1 Specifically, the review does not address the issue of whether naturally-occurring, background levels of prenatal exposure to MeHg from maternal fish c...

Rodent experiments have documented neuropathological lesions specifically located in the brainstem when toxic methylmercury (MeHg) exposure occurs at a particular time during brain development. The possible sensitivity of the brainstem to MeHg was explored in the prospective study of a Faroese birth cohort (N = 1,022), most recently examined at age 14 years. In 878 of eligible children (87%), l...

consumption of fish has been associated with reduced performance on tests of neurologic function in children, including tests of cogni-tive development, attention and behavior, and motor skills. A comprehensive review of the mercury literature conducted by the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on the Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury concluded that, based on the evidence available,...