Environmental chemical threat - Essay Example
Environmental chemical threat
Methylmercury can be highly toxic to both human and animals. It is concerned hazardous since it can irritate or damage organs if ingested in amounts that can be considered to be dangerous for the human body. The main source of mercury is air emissions from power generation and other industrial and waste disposal activities, during its movement among the atmosphere , land, and water mercury undergoes a serious of complex chemical transformations. Thus methylmercury is an organic form that is derived from this transformation. As a result sea animals are readily in an environment conducive to ingesting or being exposed to methylmercury. It poses a grave environmental threat since it is not considered to be particularly harmful if ingested in low amounts, however several cases have begged to differ with this notion.
