Chen Celia Y, Driscoll Charles T, Lambert Kathleen F, Mason Robert P, Sunderland Elsie M
Rev Environ Health. 2016 Mar;31(1):17-20. doi: 10.1515/reveh-2015-0044.
Mercury (Hg) is a global contaminant whose presence in the biosphere has been increased by human activity, particularly coal burning/energy production, mining, especially artisanal scale gold mining, and other industrial activities. Mercury input to the surface ocean has doubled over the past century leading governments and organizations to take actions to protect humans from the harmful effects of this toxic element. Recently, the UN Environmental Program led 128 countries to negotiate and sign a legally binding agreement, the 2013 Minimata Convention, to control Hg emissions and releases to land and water globally. In an effort to communicate science to this emerging international policy, the Dartmouth Superfund Research Program formed the Coastal and Marine Mercury Ecosystem Research Collaborative (C-MERC) in 2010 that brought together more than 70 scientists and policy experts to analyze and synthesize the science on Hg pollution in the marine environment from Hg sources to MeHg in seafood. The synthesis of the science revealed that the sources and inputs of Hg and their pathways to human exposure are largely determined by ecosystem spatial scales and that these spatial scales determine the organizational level of policies. The paper summarizes the four major findings of the report.
汞（Hg）是一种全球性污染物，人类活动，特别是煤炭燃烧/能源生产、采矿，尤其是个体小规模金矿开采以及其他工业活动，已导致其在生物圈中的含量增加。在过去的一个世纪里，进入海洋表层的汞增加了一倍，这促使各国政府和组织采取行动，保护人类免受这种有毒元素的有害影响。最近，联合国环境规划署牵头128个国家进行谈判并签署了一项具有法律约束力的协议——《2013年水俣公约》，以控制全球汞向陆地和水体的排放。为了将科学知识传达给这一新兴的国际政策，达特茅斯超级基金研究项目于2010年成立了沿海和海洋汞生态系统研究协作组（C-MERC），该协作组汇聚了70多名科学家和政策专家，对海洋环境中汞污染的科学知识进行分析和综合，内容涵盖从汞源到海鲜中的甲基汞。科学知识的综合分析表明，汞的来源、输入及其进入人体的途径在很大程度上由生态系统的空间尺度决定，而且这些空间尺度决定了政策的组织层面。本文总结了该报告的四大主要发现。
