Mercury pollution a step closer to being curbed

People in the United States are primarily exposed to mercury when they eat fish and shellfish that contain methylmercury, a form of mercury that is emitted into the environment by industrial activity. Pregnant women in particular are warned to avoid methylmercury, which can impair neurological development in fetuses, infants and children. Human activities emitted 1,960 metric tons of mercury into the atmosphere in 2010, according to a 2013 report by the U.N. Environment Programme. And mercury lingers in the environment for years. "To get it out of the oceans, you have to get it out of the atmosphere," Schwarzman said. "To get it out of the atmosphere, you have to get it out of ... industrial use. That gets it out of the environment, which gets it out of the food source and out of us. All of that takes decades." The biggest source of mercury emissions globally is small-scale gold mining, which produces 37 percent of it. On the rise in South America, Asia and Africa, this mining involves intentionally using mercury to separate and collect gold from rocks and soil. But studies show the practice puts miners and people who live near mines at high risk of mercury poisoning.
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