Resources for Mercury Science and Research
- Chemical profile; toxicology and health effects
- Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) -- descriptive and quantitative carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risk information; includes available RfDs and RfCs
- ATSDR medical management guidelines -- includes information on the chemical profile, toxicology and health effects
- Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource (ACToR) data on mercury -- ACToR is EPA's online warehouse of all publicly available chemical toxicity data.
- Mercury levels in blood and urine as measured through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES):
- America's Children and the Environment Report: data on biomonitoring of mercury -- mercury in women ages 16 to 49, concentrations in blood, 1999-2010
- Chemical Data Access Tool (CDAT) -- Find a range of chemical-specific information submitted to EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act. CDAT includes:
- information on the production and use of chemicals manufactured or imported into the United States
- health and safety information reported by industry under TSCA Sections 4,5, 8(d), and 8(e)
- unpublished, nonconfidential studies covering chemical testing results and adverse effects of chemicals on health and ecological systems
- health and environmental effects information obtained through the High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge
- TRI-Chemical Hazard Information Profiles (TRI-CHIP) -- downloadable Microsoft Access database that allows easy access to toxicity information from multiple data sources for mercury and other chemicals on the TRI list.
- Concise International Chemical Assessment Document 50 -- Elemental Mercury and Inorganic Mercury Compounds: Human Health Aspects Published under the joint sponsorship of the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Labour Organization, and the World Health Organization, and produced within the framework of the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals. Exit
- Reference values and regulatory limits
Type of mercury
Type of value
Value
Issuing agency
Source of information
Elemental mercury vapor
Acute Exposure Guideline Levels
EPA
Mercuric chloride
RfD for chronic oral exposure
(no RfC for inhalation)3 x10-4 mg/kg-day
LOAEL : 0.317 mg/kg-dayEPA
Mercuric chloride
carcinogenicity assessment
possible human carcinogen
EPA
Metallic mercury
RfC for chronic inhalation
(RfD for chronic oral exposure not assessed)3x10-4 mg/m3
LOAEL (ADJ): 0.009 mg/m3EPA
Metallic mercury
carcinogenicity assessment
not classifiable
EPA
Methylmercury
RfD for chronic oral exposure
(no RfC for inhalation)1 x10-4 mg/kg-day ; equivalent to a blood Methylmercury concentration of 5.8 micrograms per liter (μg/L)
EPA
Mercuric chloride
Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) and Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) in drinking water
both the MCLG and the MCL are 0.002 mg/L (2 parts per billion [ppb])
EPA
EPA Basic Information about Mercury (inorganic) in Drinking Water page
Mercuric chloride
water bodies
recommends that the level of inorganic mercury in rivers, lakes, and streams be no more than 144 parts mercury per trillion [ppt]
EPA
Methylmercury
fish tissue-based water quality criteria
0.3 micrograms of mercury per gram (0.3 mg/kg) of fish as an indicator that water bodies should not have higher levels in their fish
EPA
EPA Human Health Criteria: Methylmercury Fish Tissue Criterion page
Methylmercury
seafood products sold through interstate commerce - FDA can seize shipments of these products. Does not apply to in-state shipments or to sport fish caught recreationally
1 ppm
FDA
?
allowable levels in bottled water
0.002 mg/L
FDA
Mercuric chloride
Minimal Risk Level: health-based screening level for chronic exposures to airborne mercury; estimate of the daily human exposure to a hazardous substance that is likely to be without appreciable risk of adverse non-cancer health effects over a specified duration of exposure.
Acute:
0.007 mg/kg/dayIntermediate:
0.002 mg/kg/dayATSDR
ATSDR List of Minimal Risk Levels (MRLs) for Hazardous Substances
Metallic mercury
Minimal Risk Level: health-based screening level for chronic exposures to airborne mercury; estimate of the daily human exposure to a hazardous substance that is likely to be without appreciable risk of adverse non-cancer health effects over a specified duration of exposure.
Chronic: 0.0002 mg/m3
ATSDR
ATSDR List of Minimal Risk Levels (MRLs) for Hazardous Substances
Methylmercury
MRL
Chronic: 0.0003 mg/m3
ATSDR
ATSDR List of Minimal Risk Levels (MRLs) for Hazardous Substances
All
Medical Management Guideline (MMG)
N/A
ATSDR
Mercury compounds
workplace exposure limit/REL (health-based screening levels used to identify potentially hazardous situations due to short-term exposures to contaminants in air)
Hg Vapor: TWA 0.05 mg/m3 [skin]
Other: no more than 0.1 mg/m3 [skin]NIOSH
Mercury compounds
workplace exposure limit/PEL
no more than 0.1 mg/m3
OSHA
Organo alkyl compounds
workplace exposure limit/REL (health-based screening levels used to identify potentially hazardous situations due to short-term exposures to contaminants in air)
TWA 0.01 mg/m3 ST 0.03 mg/m3 [skin]
NIOSH
NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards: Mercury (organo) alkyl compounds (as Hg)
Organo alkyl compounds
workplace exposure limit/PEL
TWA 0.01 mg/m, no more than 0.04 mg/m3
OSHA
NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards: Mercury (organo) alkyl compounds (as Hg)
Metallic and inorganic compounds
Industrial workplace PEL
0.025 mg/m3
California OSHA
Mercury and inorganic mercury compounds
Acute, 8-hour and Chronic Reference Exposure Levels (chRELs)
Acute: 0.6 micrograms Hg/m3; 8-hour: 0.06 micrograms Hg/m3; Chronic: 0.03 micrograms Hg/m3
California EPA Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)
- Test methods
- SW-846 Methods:
- 3200: Mercury species fractionation and quantification by microwave assisted extraction, selective solvent extraction and/or solid phase extraction
- 7470A: Mercury in liquid waste (manual cold-vapor technique)
- 7471B: Mercury in solid or semisolid waste (manual cold-vapor technique)
- 7472: Mercury in aqueous samples and extracts by anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV)
- 7473: Mercury in solids and solutions by thermal decomposition, amalgamation, and atomic absorption spectrophotometry
- 7474: Mercury in sediment and tissue samples by atomic fluorescence spectrometry
- Other EPA test methods:
- Clean Water Act Methods
- 245.1: Determination of Mercury in Water by Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrometry Revision 3.0; 245.2: Mercury, Cold Vapor Technique, Automated; and 245.7: Mercury in Water by Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry Revision 2.0
- 1631: Mercury in Water by Oxidation, Purge and Trap, and Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry, Revision E
- Clean Water Act Methods
- SW-846 Methods:
- Sources of emissions and discharges
Emissions into the Air
- Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) compiles TRI data submitted by regulated facilities each year and makes the data available
- TRI Explorer: Generate reports on releases, transfers, and waste managed that can be compared across facilities, chemicals, geographic areas, industries (NAICS code) or reporting years.
- TRI.NET -- Download this application to:
- find facilities that release mercury or mercury compounds within a specified distance of an address,
- obtain trend information to identify year-to-year changes in the data, and
- find EPA reports for facilities in your search.
- TOXMAP: allows you to visually explore TRI and Superfund data program data.
- TRI guidance for facilities reporting mercury and mercury compounds under EPCRA Section 313
- Emissions factors:
- Emissions inventories: The National Emissions Inventory (NEI) is a national database of air emissions information with input from numerous state and local air agencies, from tribes, and from industry. The latest data available are from the 2011 NEI; data from the 2014 NEI should be available in 2017.
- Main emissions inventories page
- Data from the 2011 NEI inventory
- Get assistance with emissions monitoring, calculations or control technology
- 2011 National Emissions Inventory Technical Support Document (August 2015) (PDF) (287 pp, 12 MB, About PDF) -- contains "What does this NEI tell us about mercury?" section (begins on page 32)
- Emissions models:
- Emissions modeling clearinghouse
- Emissions and Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID) -- a comprehensive source of data on the environmental characteristics of almost all electric power generated in the United States
- Integrated Planning Model/Power Sector Modeling -- a multi-regional, dynamic, deterministic linear programming (LP) model of the electric power sector in the continental lower 48 states and the District of Columbia.
- Emissions monitoring:
- Emissions Measurement Center -- information on test methods for measuring pollutants from smokestacks and other industrial sources.
- Monitoring knowledge base -- information about monitoring techniques for air pollution control. The monitoring information is presented by industry type and by control technique.
- Emissions technologies:
- RACT/BACT/LAER Clearinghouse (RBLC)-- case-specific information on the "Best Available" air pollution technologies that have been required to reduce the emission of air pollutants from stationary sources (e.g., power plants, steel mills, chemical plants, etc.).
Discharges into Bodies of Water
- Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) compiles TRI data submitted by regulated facilities each year and makes the data available
- TRI Explorer: Generate reports on releases, transfers, and waste managed that can be compared across facilities, chemicals, geographic areas, industries (NAICS code) or reporting years.
- TRI.NET -- Download this application to:
- find facilities that release mercury or mercury compounds within a specified distance of an address,
- obtain trend information to identify year-to-year changes in the data, and
- find EPA reports for facilities in your search.
- TOXMAP: allows you to visually explore TRI data and Superfund program data.
- Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) Pollutant Loading Tool: learn who is discharging mercury, how much is being discharged, and where the discharges are occurring.
- Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) compiles TRI data submitted by regulated facilities each year and makes the data available
- Fate and transport; deposition
- Mercury Maps -- a tool that relates changes in mercury air deposition rates to changes in mercury fish tissue concentrations, on a national scale.
- Methylmercury fish tissue criterion -- information about the concentration of methylmercury in fish that EPA calculated to protect human health.
- Database: National Survey of Mercury Concentrations in Fish (1990-1995) -- data can be used to derive estimates of tissue concentrations, determine the number and frequency of samples taken and analyzed by state, and calculate descriptive statistics on mercury concentrations in fish tissue.
- Mercury Deposition Network Exit - a long-term record of total mercury concentration and deposition in precipitation in the United States and Canada. Part of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, which EPA co-sponsors.
- Models:
- Regional Modeling System for Aerosols and Deposition (REMSAD) Exit is a three-dimensional grid model designed to calculate the concentrations of mercury and other pollutants by simulating the physical and chemical processes in the atmosphere that affect pollutant concentrations.
- Ecological assessments; risks to wildlife
- 1997 Mercury Study Report to Congress:
- Volume VI, Ecological Assessment
- Volume VII, Characterization of Human Health and Wildlife Risks
- U.S. Geologic Survey Mercury Research Team projects:
- Mercury In Aquatic Ecosystems
- Aquatic Cycling of Mercury in the Everglades (ACME)
- National Assessment Study of Mercury Contamination of Aquatic Ecosystems
- Mercury Cycling in Aquatic Ecosystems: a National Investigation
- Mercury in High Alpine Lakes
- Methylmercury Formation, Transport and Fate in the Yukon River, Alaska
- Models:
- Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP) -- helps users interpret and predict water quality responses to natural phenomena and manmade pollution for various pollution management decisions. WASP is a dynamic compartment-modeling program for aquatic systems, including both the water column and the underlying benthos.
- MINTEQA2 -- An equilibrium speciation model that can be used to calculate the equilibrium composition of dilute aqueous solutions in the laboratory or in natural aqueous systems.
- 1997 Mercury Study Report to Congress:
- Exposures
- 2005 National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) -- The assessment looks at human health impacts from estimated, chronic inhalation exposures based on emissions data from the 2005 National Emissions Inventory for hazardous air pollutants, assuming these emissions remain constant throughout one's lifetime (not today's levels or projected levels). NATA produces results that are useful in identifying potential patterns in emissions, concentrations and risk from air toxics nationwide and is intended as a tool to prioritize specific air toxics and sources for further study or regulation. The 2005 (most recent) assessment includes emissions, ambient concentrations, and exposure estimates for 177 air toxics including mercury.
- 1997 Mercury Study Report to Congress:
- Volume IV, Exposure Assessment
- Volume VII, Characterization of Human Health and Wildlife Risks
- Pollution prevention, emergency response, waste treatment and cleanup
Pollution Prevention
Responding to Exposures
Responding to Spills/Contaminated Soils, Waste and Water - Geospatial/mapped data
- NLFA Fish Tissue Search - allows state and tribal fish advisory program managers to view information about fish tissue; and NLFA Technical Advisories Search - allows state and tribal fish advisory program managers to access advisories. Both searches let you sort by:
- the geographic location of a waterbody,
- the species of the fish, and
- the pollutants identified in the advisory.
- TOXMAP: allows you to visually explore TRI and Superfund data program data.
- Mercury Maps -- a tool that relates changes in mercury air deposition rates to changes in mercury fish tissue concentrations, on a national scale.
- NLFA Fish Tissue Search - allows state and tribal fish advisory program managers to view information about fish tissue; and NLFA Technical Advisories Search - allows state and tribal fish advisory program managers to access advisories. Both searches let you sort by: