Climate Change Impacts on Environmental and Human Exposure to Mercury in the Arctic

Sundseth, Kyrre; Pacyna, Józef M.; Banel, Anna; Pacyna, Elisabeth G.; Rautio, Arja

doi:10.3390/ijerph120403579

Cited by 36 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Future research should more fully address the timescales of reemissions from subsurface reservoirs, both land and ocean, and their effects on benefits estimates. Better understanding of mercury cycling, methylation and bioaccumulation processes, their variability, and the potential effects of global changes to climate, land use, and other environmental contaminants will be critical for improving policy evaluation (56), particularly for better understanding the distribution of benefits between current and future generations.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefits of mercury controls for the United States

Giang

Selin

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

131

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Mercury pollution poses risks for both human and ecosystem health. As a consequence, controlling mercury pollution has become a policy goal on both global and national scales. We developed an assessment method linking global-scale atmospheric chemical transport modeling to regional-scale economic modeling to consistently evaluate the potential benefits to the United States of global (UN Minamata Convention on Mercury) and domestic [Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS)] policies, framed as economic gains from avoiding mercury-related adverse health endpoints. This method attempts to trace the policies-to-impacts path while taking into account uncertainties and knowledge gaps with policy-appropriate bounding assumptions. We project that cumulative lifetime benefits from the Minamata Convention for individuals affected by 2050 are $339 billion (2005 USD), with a range from $1.4 billion to $575 billion in our sensitivity scenarios. Cumulative economy-wide benefits to the United States, realized by 2050, are $104 billion, with a range from $6 million to $171 billion. Projected Minamata benefits are more than twice those projected from the domestic policy. This relative benefit is robust to several uncertainties and variabilities, with the ratio of benefits (Minamata/MATS) ranging from ≈1.4 to 3. However, we find that for those consuming locally caught freshwater fish from the United States, rather than marine and estuarine fish from the global market, benefits are larger from US than global action, suggesting domestic policies are important for protecting these populations. Per megagram of prevented emissions, our domestic policy scenario results in US benefits about an order of magnitude higher than from our global scenario, further highlighting the importance of domestic action. mercury | policy | impacts assessment | Minamata Convention | economic benefits

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefits of mercury controls for the United States

Giang

Selin

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

131

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“…Comprehensive evaluations of the chemical and physical processes that govern Hg distribution and fate among the major environmental compartments can be found in the literature (Chételat et al ; Sundseth et al ; Kim et al ; Bjørklund et al ; Dranguet et al ; Paranjape and Hall ; Klapstein and Driscoll ). Briefly, in the water column Hg II can (1) be reduced to Hg 0 and reemitted back to the atmosphere, (2) methylated to the organic form MMHg, or (3) bind to organic matter (OM) as well as inorganic particles and directly deposit to bottom sediments.…”

Section: The Mercury Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic formation of methylmercury: A bio–physico–chemical conundrum

Bravo

Cosio

2019

Limnology & Oceanography

116

102

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Mercury (Hg) is a natural and widespread trace metal, but is considered a priority pollutant, particularly its organic form methylmercury (MMHg), because of human's exposure to MMHg through fish consumption. Pioneering studies showed the methylation of divalent Hg (HgII) to MMHg to occur under oxygen‐limited conditions and to depend on the activity of anaerobic microorganisms. Recent studies identified the hgcAB gene cluster in microorganisms with the capacity to methylate HgII and unveiled a much wider range of species and environmental conditions producing MMHg than previously expected. Here, we review the recent knowledge and approaches used to understand HgII‐methylation, microbial biodiversity and activity involved in these processes, and we highlight the current limits for predicting MMHg concentrations in the environment. The available data unveil the fact that HgII methylation is a bio‐physico‐chemical conundrum in which the efficiency of biological HgII methylation appears to depend chiefly on HgII and nutrients availability, the abundance of electron acceptors such as sulfate or iron, the abundance and composition of organic matter as well as the activity and structure of the microbial community. An increased knowledge of the relationship between microbial community composition, physico‐chemical conditions, MMHg production, and demethylation is necessary to predict variability in MMHg concentrations across environments.

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“…Lindberg et al, 2002;Sunderland and Mason, 2007;Mason, 2009;Pacyna et al, 2010;Amos et al, 2012;Lei et al, 2013, Driscoll et al, 2013Chen et al, 2014;Song et al, 2015, Cohen et al, 2016Gustin et al, 2016), human health (e.g. AMAP, 2009;Karagas et al, 2012;Sundseth et al, 2015), and economic consequences (e.g. Ambio, 2007;Sundseth et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current and future levels of mercury atmospheric pollution on a global scale

Travnikov²,

et al. 2016

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Abstract. An assessment of current and future emissions, air concentrations, and atmospheric deposition of mercury worldwide is presented on the basis of results obtained during the performance of the EU GMOS (Global Mercury Observation System) project. Emission estimates for mercury were prepared with the main goal of applying them in models to assess current (2013) and future (2035) air concentrations and atmospheric deposition of this contaminant. The combustion of fossil fuels (mainly coal) for energy and heat production in power plants and in industrial and residential boilers, as well as artisanal and small-scale gold mining, is one of the major anthropogenic sources of Hg emissions to the atmosphere at present. These sources account for about 37 and 25 % of the total anthropogenic Hg emissions globally, estimated to be about 2000 t. Emissions in Asian countries, particularly in China and India, dominate the total emissions of Hg. The current estimates of mercury emissions from natural processes (primary mercury emissions and re-emissions), including mercury depletion events, were estimated to be 5207 t year−1, which represents nearly 70 % of the global mercury emission budget. Oceans are the most important sources (36 %), followed by biomass burning (9 %). A comparison of the 2035 anthropogenic emissions estimated for three different scenarios with current anthropogenic emissions indicates a reduction of these emissions in 2035 up to 85 % for the best-case scenario. Two global chemical transport models (GLEMOS and ECHMERIT) have been used for the evaluation of future mercury pollution levels considering future emission scenarios. Projections of future changes in mercury deposition on a global scale simulated by these models for three anthropogenic emissions scenarios of 2035 indicate a decrease in up to 50 % deposition in the Northern Hemisphere and up to 35 % in Southern Hemisphere for the best-case scenario. The EU GMOS project has proved to be a very important research instrument for supporting the scientific justification for the Minamata Convention and monitoring of the implementation of targets of this convention, as well as the EU Mercury Strategy. This project provided the state of the art with regard to the development of the latest emission inventories for mercury, future emission scenarios, dispersion modelling of atmospheric mercury on a global and regional scale, and source–receptor techniques for mercury emission apportionment on a global scale.

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Climate Change Impacts on Environmental and Human Exposure to Mercury in the Arctic

Cited by 36 publications

References 66 publications

Benefits of mercury controls for the United States

Benefits of mercury controls for the United States

Biotic formation of methylmercury: A bio–physico–chemical conundrum

Current and future levels of mercury atmospheric pollution on a global scale

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