Download or read book Mercury in the Great Lakes basin written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Divalent and particulate mercury fall out of the atmosphere in precipitation or as dry deposition (deposition of particulate and vapor-phase mercury in the absence of precipitation) as opposed to elemental mercury which can cycle in the atmosphere for months or years. [...] In response to public pressure, the United States has suspended the sale of approximately 4500 tonnes of government -held mercury as of 1994, and is currently assessing its environmental impact, and options for its disposal or sale.28 Figure 5 illustrates the change in volumes of mercury imported and exported from Canada, the United States and Mexico over the early part of the 1990's. [...] The United States has land disposal restrictions on mercury-bearing hazardous wastes, resulting in much of mercury waste being burned.41 Mercury is not destroyed by burning, and such burning results in the release of essentially all the mercury in the waste to the atmosphere. [...] This section of the report introduces some of the environmental and human health impacts of mercury in the Great Lakes, and identifies, where possible, some of the associated economic costs. [...] Impacts of Mercury on the Great Lakes Environment Mercury has been identified as a teratogen, mutagen, and carcinogen, and the cause of a variety of behavioral effects in wildlife.78 Determining the impact of mercury on.