Developmental Neurotoxicity Associated with Dietary Exposure to Methylmercury from Seafood and Freshwater Fish

Methylmercury is a ubiquitous contaminant of seafood and freshwater fish (1). Human

exposures to this toxicant have increased over time, due to anthropogenic mercury

pollution, and because modern fishing technology allows catching large predatory species

that accumulate methylmercury. Dramatic reminders of the neurotoxic potential of

methylmercury occurred in the poisoning incidents in Minamata and Niigata, Japan, in the

1950s and 1960s and the subsequent contamination of bread in Iraq in 1971 from

methylmercury-treated seed grains (1,2).