ABSTRACT
The most important ore of mercury, cinnabar (mercuric sulfide), has been mined continuously since 415 BCE (Clarkson and Marsh, 1982). In the period before the industrial revolution, mercury was used extensively in gold extraction and in the manufacture of felt hats and mirrors; in the 1800s, it was used in the chloralkali industry, in the manufacture of electrical instruments, and as a medical antiseptic; and since 1900, it has been used in pharmaceuticals, in agricultural fungicides, in the pulp and paper industry as a slimicide, and in the production of plastics (Clarkson and Marsh, 1982). World use of mercury is estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 metric tons annually (Boudou and Ribeyre, 1983), of which the United States accounts for about 18.0% (Clarkson and Marsh, 1982). Today, mercury is a leading public health concern, as judged by the increases in regulations governing mercury emissions, in mercury fish advisories, in clinical studies, and in media attention (Kales and Goldman, 2002; Hightower and Moore, 2003; Weil et al., 2005).
