A critique paper on the article: Mercury Pollution

A critique paper presented as a requirement for the subject:

English for Academic and Professional Purpose
S.Y 2022 – 20233 at
Panabo City Senior High School
New Visayas, Panabo City

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GABRIELLE SEBASTIAN P. ABELA

Grade 11 – Turing
November 28, 2022
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Introduction

II. Body
A. How it affects the food chain
B. How it affects human beings
C. Ways it is produced

III. Conclusion
I. Introduction

Environmental contamination by mercury is and will can still be a heavy risk for human health.
Pollution of the terrestrial setting is especially necessary because it could be a place of human
life and the production food. This compound emerged as an industrial pollutant in the early
1950’s and the way mercury contaminate is by affecting waterways and bodies of water.

II. Body

While the ‘Mercury Pollution’ article raises some questions about the way it can affect the
human health in different ways, it does not specify how harmful it is to human beings as well as
what ways they prevent the pollution in waterways as the treatment methods used in this article
might be outdated.
The way mercury has different states of matter is especially alluring, it is a silvery-white liquid
when it is at room temperature and vaporizes readily when heat is present, it can also stay
suspended in the air for quite a long time.
This article provides quite some strong points on how it affects the food chain, firstly mercury
particles get carried by air currents and fall into waterways which phytoplankton consume, and
then marine life will consume the mercury-contaminated phytoplankton. Nearly all fish and
shellfish contain traces of mercury however for most people, the risk from mercury by eating fish
and shellfish is not a health concern, yet some fish and shellfish can contain higher levels of
mercury that may harm an unborn baby or a young child.
It is undeniable that mercury pollution has harm to humans and an undeniable fact is that
mercury pollution produces a rotten smell which is caused by methylation, it is a natural process
caused by mercury converting into methyl mercury by sulphate reducing bacteria. One thing that
the article does not specify is that the primary health effect of methyl mercury is impaired
neurological development therefore affecting cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language,
and fine motor and spatial skills. Mostly children are greatly affected if they were exposed to
methyl mercury as fetuses.
It is crucial to know where mercury pollution occurs, the largest sources of mercury pollution in
the United States are coal-fired power plants. Emissions from these powerplants account for
more than 70 percent of the mercury that enters our waterways. Mercury pollution is capable of
polluting waterways from thousands of miles away.
III. Conclusion

In recent years, mercury pollution is still on the rise and showed noticeable effect on our world
today. Mercury Pollution greatly affects society and the terrestrial environment, The Mercury
Pollution article may not have provided specific examples and ways to do so however it showed
a concrete evidence of ways mercury can affect the food chain, as such it encourages to reduce
the pollution of mercury as bodies of water, humans, and marine life is affected.
IV. References
Contributors, W. E. (2004). What You Need to Know about Mercury in Fish and Shellfish. Retrieved from
https://www.webmd.com/diet/mercury-in-fish#:~:text=However%2C%20nearly%20all%20fish
%20and,young%20child%27s%20developing%20nervous%20system.

(2019). Mercury: Sources, Transport, Deposition and Impacts. Department of Environmental Services, 29
Hazen Drive, Concord, New Hampshire. Retrieved from
https://www.des.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt341/files/documents/2020-01/ard-28.pdf

Organization, W. H. (2017, March 31). Mercury and Health. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-
room/fact-sheets/detail/mercury-and-health