The most toxic and bioaccumulative form of mercury in the environment is methylmercury (McHg), which affects the
Question:
The most toxic and bioaccumulative form of mercury in the environment is methylmercury (McHg), which affects the central nervous system in humans and causes long-term delays in neurocognitive development of children. Consumption of marine fish is the greatest source of Meng exposure to United States residents. Consumers along the Gulf of Mexico coast are at enhanced risk because of their high levels of seafood consumption and the likelihood that many species of the Gulf of Mexico fish have higher levels of mercury than the same species harvested on other coasts. It has been estimated that perhaps 30% of the Gulf coastal population exceeds EPA's reference dose (RfD) for Meng, which is used as a criterion to protect human health. Table 1 summarizes the annual commercial harvest and the mean Hg concentration in edible muscle tissue of seafood species from the Gulf of Mexico. You can assume all Hg in seafood tissues are in form of McHg.
(a) Find the three seafood species of the highest Hg concentration and the three seafood species of the lowest Hg concentration from Table I. What arc the possible causes for the gap of Hg concentrations between these two groups of seafood species?
(b) Evans ct al. (2015) reported the average surface water concentration of McHg in the Gulf of Mexico to be 0.0035ng/L. Calculate the bioconcentration factors (BCF) of McHg in the seafood species in part (a).
(c) If you eat one quarter pound of the seafood species in part (a), how much MeHg will you ingest? (Perform the calculation for each species)
(d) If you swallow one liter of water during a day while water skiing in the gulf, how much Meng will you ingest?
Chemistry The Central Science
ISBN: 978-0321696724
12th edition
Authors: Theodore Brown, Eugene LeMay, Bruce Bursten, Catherine Murphy, Patrick Woodward