Resources for Mercury Science and Research

• Chemical profile; toxicology and health effects
• Reference values and regulatory limits
• Analytic and test methods
• Sources of emissions and discharges
• Fate and transport; deposition
• Exposures
• Pollution prevention, emergency response, waste treatment and cleanup

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Chemical Profile; Toxicology and Health Effects

• Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) -- Descriptive and quantitative carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risk information; includes available reference doses (RfDs) and reference concentrations (RfCs):
  • Profile of elemental (metallic) mercury.
  • Profile of elemental (metallic) mercury Profile of mercuric chloride (HgCl2)
  • Profile of methylmercury
• Volume V of the 1997 Mercury Study Report to Congress: Health Effects of Mercury and Mercury Compounds
• ATSDR Toxicological Profile for Mercury (1999)
  • Summary (public health statement)
  • Chapter on chemical and physical info (PDF)
  • Chapter on health effects (PDF)
  • Interaction profile for chlorpyrifos, lead, mercury, and methylmercury
• ATSDR medical management guidelines -- Includes information on the chemical profile, toxicology and health effects
• USGS mercury statistics and information
• Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource (ACToR) data on mercury -- ACToR is EPA's online warehouse of all publicly available chemical toxicity data.
•  Blood and urine inorganic mercury levels in the United States from 1999 to 2016 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  • Unpublished, nonconfidential studies covering chemical testing results and adverse effects of chemicals on health and ecological systems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.
• Summary Review of Health Effects Associated with Mercuric Chloride: Health Issue Assessment (June 1994)
• 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. 

Reference Values and Regulatory Limits

• ATSDR Toxicological Profile for Mercury (1999): Chapter on regulations and advisories (PDF)

Type of mercury	Type of value	Value	Issuing agency	Source of information
Elemental mercury vapor	Acute Exposure Guideline Levels	See EPA AEGL Program: Mercury Vapor Results	EPA	EPA AEGL Program: Mercury Vapor Results
Mercuric chloride	RfD for chronic oral exposure (no RfC for inhalation)	3 x10-4 mg/kg-day  LOAEL : 0.317 mg/kg-day	EPA	IRIS Assessment
Mercuric chloride	carcinogenicity assessment	possible human carcinogen	EPA	IRIS Assessment
Metallic mercury	RfC for chronic inhalation (RfD for chronic oral exposure not assessed)	3x10-4 mg/m3 LOAEL (ADJ): 0.009 mg/m3	EPA	IRIS Assessment
Metallic mercury	carcinogenicity assessment	not classifiable	EPA	IRIS Assessment
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 (?g/L)	EPA	IRIS Assessment
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	ATSDR Public Health Statement on Mercury
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	FDA Guidance for Industry: Action Levels for Poisonous or Deleterious Substances in Human Food and Animal Feed page
"Mercury"	allowable levels in bottled water	0.002 mg/L	FDA	Code of Federal Regulations, as set forth on FDA.gov
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/day Intermediate: 0.002 mg/kg/day	ATSDR	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	ATSDR Medical Management Guidelines for Mercury page
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	NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards: Mercury Compounds
Mercury compounds	workplace exposure limit/PEL	no more than 0.1 mg/m3	OSHA	NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards: Mercury Compounds
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	Occupational Health Hazard Risk Assessment Project for California: Identification of Chemicals of Concern, Possible Risk Assessment Methods, and Examples of Health Protective Occupational Air Concentrations (2007) (PDF)
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)	OEHHA table of All OEHHA Acute, 8-hour and Chronic Reference Exposure Levels (chRELs) as of June 2014.

Analytic and Test Methods

• SW-846 Methods are all listed on the Basic Information about How to Use SW-846 page. Use the search box on the right side to search for all methods that apply to mercury. Methods include:
  • 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
  • Air Methods
    • EPA IO [Inorganic] Compendium Method IO-5: Sampling and Analysis for Vapor and Particle Phase Mercury in Ambient Air Utilizing Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry (CVAFS)
    • Method 30A - Determination of Total Vapor Phase Mercury Emissions From Stationary Sources (Instrumental Analyzer Procedure) 8-2-2017
    • Method 30B - Determination of Total Vapor Phase Mercury Emissions From Coal-Fired Combustion Sources Using Carbon Sorbent Traps 8-2-2017
    • Method 101 - Determination of particulate and gaseous mercury emissions from chlor-alkali plants (air streams) 8-4-2017
    • Method 101A - Determination of particulate and gaseous mercury emissions from sewage sludge incinerators 8-4-2017
    • Method 105 - Determination of Mercury in Wastewater Treatment Plant Sewage Sludges 8-4-2017
  • ATSDR Toxicological Profile for Mercury (1999): Analytical methods chapter (PDF)

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.
  • 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
• Volume II of the 1997 Mercury Study Report to Congress: An Inventory of Anthropogenic Mercury Emissions in the United States (PDF)
• EPA's Report on the Environment: Mercury Emissions
• Emissions factors:
  • Emissions factors and AP 42, the Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors
  • WebFIRE and other tools for electronic reporting of emissions
• 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.
  • 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.

Fate and Transport; Deposition

• Volume III of the 1997 Mercury Study Report to Congress, Fate and Transport of Mercury in the Environment
• Mercury Deposition Modeling Tools
• Methylmercury fish tissue criterion -- Information about the concentration of methylmercury in fish that EPA calculated to protect human health.
• Mercury Deposition Network -- 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.
• Pilot Survey of Levels of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-P-Dioxins (PCDDs), Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans (PCDFs), Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) and Mercury in Rural Soils of the U.S. (April 2007)
• Models:
  • Regional Modeling System for Aerosols and Deposition (REMSAD) 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
• Impacts of Mercury Exposure on Free-Ranging Post-Fledged Piscivorous Birds
• 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.

Exposures

• 2014 National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) -- NATA gives a snapshot of outdoor air quality with respect to emissions of air toxics. It suggests the long-term risks to human health if air toxics emissions are steady over time. NATA estimates the cancer risks from breathing air toxics over many years. It also estimates noncancer health effects for some pollutants, including diesel particulate matter (PM). NATA calculates these air toxics concentrations and risks at the census tract level. 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 2014 (most recent) assessment includes emissions, ambient concentrations, and exposure estimates for 180 of the 187 Clean Air Act air toxics, including mercury, and diesel particulate matter.
• 1997 Mercury Study Report to Congress:
  • Volume IV, Exposure Assessment
  • Volume VII, Characterization of Human Health and Wildlife Risks
• Biomonitoring -- The biomonitoring section of the America's Children and the Environment report presents information on selected chemicals measured in the bodies of women of child-bearing age and children.
• ATSDR Toxicological Profile for Mercury (1999): Chapter on potential for human exposure (PDF)

Pollution prevention, emergency response, waste treatment and cleanup

Pollution Prevention

• Facilities that have submitted information to EPA's TRI database about their efforts to prevent or reduce mercury pollution

Responding to Exposures

• ATSDR medical management guidelines

Responding to Spills/Contaminated Soils, Waste and Water

• 2012 ATSDR guidance for action levels for elemental or metallic mercury releases or spills (PDF)
• 2007 EPA report: Treatment Technologies For Mercury in Soil, 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. It also allows users to search the National Listing Fish Advisories (NLFA) database for fish tissue contaminant data.

• 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.