Mercury

Some mercury occurs naturally in the environment, but the major sources of mercury pollution are coal-fired power plant emissions and emissions from mining and manufacturing processes, as well as mercury-containing products, such as thermometers, batteries, and fluorescent light tubes. When inorganic mercury enters the air from these human sources it is then deposited in soil and water, where micro organisms transform inorganic mercury into organic mercury compounds, such as methylmercury. Methylmercury can bioaccumulate in the fatty tissues of living organisms, particularly fish living in polluted waters, and the people who then eat those fish. Mercury is a recognized developmental toxin, and it is also a suspected hormone disruptor, neurotoxin, reproductive toxin and respiratory toxin.