Mercury pollution has reached high levels around the world, with coal-burning power plants and nonferrous metal production being the main sources of the toxic emission and accounting for 72 percent of total environmental discharge. The United Nations estimates that nearly 2,000 tons of mercury was emitted into the globe’s atmosphere in 2010 alone.
Mercury is also a pervasive toxin lurking in many modern products.
Mercury can be found in many vaccinations, which are injected directly into patients’ blood. Mercury is poured into teeth via dental amalgams. Tons of amalgam waste pollutes the environment each year. Mercury was once the key metal in thermometers. It’s also used in sphygmomanometers, or blood- pressure monitoring devices. It’s used as an antiseptic in pharmaceuticals, as a reagent in laboratories, and is present in some paints.
Mercury flows through batteries and in the new fluorescent light bulbs. The metal is pervasive; it gets into the rivers and the soil, eventually flowing into the ocean, where it accumulates in the aquatic food chain. It continues to circulate, over and over, showing little signs of decomposition.
Mercury toxicity leads to nervous system paralysis
The deadly effects of mercury poisoning are often overlooked. One disease, rarely heard of, was coined Minamata disease back in 1956. The symptoms of the disease describe the ill effects of mercury poisoning: numbness in the hands and feet, muscle weaknesses, narrowing of vision, speech and hearing damage, insanity, paralysis and death.
The cause of Minamata disease was discovered when residents of Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, began eating contaminated fish from Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea. The source of the contamination was high levels of methyl mercury, which were released in industrial waste water by a chemical factory owned by the Chisso Corporation.
For 36 years, from 1932 to 1968, the symptoms rose among the population, bringing death to many. Eventually, 2,265 victims were identified, including 1,784 who died. By 2004, the Chisso Corporation had paid $86 million in compensation for the mercury poisoning of the water and fish.
The world is awakening to mercury’s toxic effects on the human body
The Minamata Convention was adopted in Kumanoto. Now, awareness of mercury pollution is growing. Many people are now calling for an end to mercury in vaccines and dental fillings. Alternatives to mercury thermometers and sphygmomanometers are coming about. People have become aware of rising mercury levels in fish, especially tuna.
Read more: Natural News
