Mercury
Mercury: What is it?
Mercury is a highly toxic element and the only metal that becomes liquid at room temperature. It can be combined with other metals to create amalgams, or solutions of metal, making it ideal for mining other elements such as gold. Now known to cause a staggering list of health and environmental problems, humans have used it for centuries in a number of practices such as mining, dentistry, cosmetics, and medicine. Despite awareness that this is the most highly toxic chemical on Earth after radioactive material, it is still used around the world today.
Effects: Health
Once in the human body, mercury acts as a neurotoxin, interfering with the brain and nervous system. Mercury is associated with the following conditions:
ADD, ALS, Alzheimers/Autism, Ataxia, bone marrow and blood pressure problems, Cardiac Effecters, CFS CNS, Circulatory changes, Fibromyalgia, MS, Rheumatoid Arthritis, renal (kidney) damage, bronchitis, gastro-intestinal problems, gingivitis, thyroid enlargement, unstable pulse, Vascular disorders, infertility, tremors, vision loss and numbness of the fingers and toes.
Mercury is especially dangerous for children and pregnant women. Prenatal and infant mercury exposure can cause mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness and blindness. It is even dangerous in low doses, affecting a child's development, delaying walking and talking, shortening attention span and causing learning disabilities.
Effects: Environment
When Mercury is released into the atmosphere, from both natural and anthropogenic sources, it is ultimately deposited in our aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In lakes and waterways, it is then converted by bacterial action to a more toxic form called methylmercury. This is then absorbed by fish and shellfish, the main food source of larger fish and other animals. As predator eats prey, the mercury is passed on in a process known as biomagnification, and the entire food web is contaminated, humans included.
A Terrifying Truth
In 1956, the devastating effects of human exposure to mercury were fully realized at a high price. The Japanese community of Minamata was located near a polyvinyl chloride plastic plant which was discharging untreated effluent containing methylmercury chloride into Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea. Marine life absorbed this and thus the community members in turn. Thirty-nine years later, 2252 patients were officially diagnosed with Minamata disease, (later found to be methylmercury poisoning). The death rate exceeeded 1000.
The Solution
Eden Initiative has the technology, ability, and desire to eliminate mercury from our environment. Our mission is to clean mercury from abandoned mining sites within North America, and eventually, all over the world. By removing the toxin from such sites, we stop it from leeching into our watersheds and oceans, contaminating our marine life, and ultimately us.