NEW DELHI: People living in cities with active coal-fired power plants and those consuming local aquatic produce have higher amounts of mercury — a metal that causes neurotoxicity in human bodies, researchers at Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad have found.
The researchers arrived at this finding after analyzing the amounts of mercury in the hair of over 600 people in three cities in India. The study has recently been published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.
Mercury is a neurotoxin that is distributed in the environment and present in the industry and consumer products, exists as a natural impurity in ores, is non-degradable, and widely circulates within and between ecosystems.
The research team, headed by Asif Qureshi, chose three cities for their analysis — Hyderabad, Vasco da Gama and Nellore. “In modern times, the non-occupational exposure of humans to mercury comes from food, especially fish, and rice grown in contaminated fields. Coal-fired power plants are estimated to be the largest emitters of mercury,” said Qureshi.