This is an important public health and environmental concern. Mercury's primary health effects are neurological if inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin. It can also cause serious damage to the kidneys. Children and pregnant women who eat mercury contaminated fish are particularly susceptible to its toxic effects. Methyl mercury, a highly toxic form, easily passes the placental barrier where it can inflict irreversible damage to the developing fetal brain and neurological system.
Nursing mothers can also pass it along through their breast milk.
People can be exposed to other dangerous forms of mercury in their homes, workplaces, and school science laboratories. Federal Facilities are no exception. Exposures can occur following the breakage and improper cleanup of mercury-containing products, the inhalation of fumes, or as the result of children playing with improperly stored mercury. These include a major incident in Minimata Bay in Japan during the 1950s where 628 people were poisoned from a mercury spill into the harbor that contaminated fish. The effected population in Minamata experienced neurological and mental disorders and even death.