TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2020//
TI  - Rethinking the Minamata tragedy: what mercury species was really responsible?
JO  - Environmental science and technology
A1  - James, Ashley K.
A1  - Nehzati, Susan
A1  - Dolgova, Natalia V.
A1  - Sokaras, Dimosthenis
A1  - Kroll, Thomas
A1  - Eto, Koyomo
A1  - O'Donoghue, John L.
A1  - Watson, Gene
A1  - Myers, Gary J.
A1  - Krone, Patrick H.
A1  - Pickering, Ingrid J.
A1  - George, Graham N.
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - Industrial release of mercury into the local Minamata environment with consequent poisoning of local communities through contaminated fish and shellfish consumption is considered the classic case of environmental mercury poisoning. However, the mercury species in the factory effluent has proved controversial, originally suggested as inorganic, and more recently as methylmercury species. We used newly-available methods to re-examine the cerebellum of historic Cat 717, which was fed factory effluent mixed with food to confirm the source. Synchrotron high energy resolution fluorescence detection-X-ray absorption spectroscopy (HERFD-XAS) revealed sulfur-bound organometallic mercury with a minor β-HgS phase. Density functional theory (DFT) indicated energetic preference for α-mercuri-acetaldehyde as a waste product of aldehyde production. The consequences of this alternative species in the "classic" mercury poisoning should be re-evaluated.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0013-936X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b06253
ID  - ref1
ER  -