Mercury poisoning is the condition caused by exposure to mercury in a high enough dose to produce health effects.

There are three different types of mercury that are harmful to the human body including:

Elemental mercury: Elemental mercury is found in glass thermometers, electrical switches, fluorescent lightbulbs, and dental fillings.

Disease Reporting Requirement

All practitioners, health care facilities, and laboratories in Florida are required to notify the Florida Department of Health of diseases or conditions of public health significance under section 381.0031, Florida Statutes, and Chapter 64D-3, Florida Administrative Code.

  • Inorganic mercury: Found in inorganic mercury in batteries, certain types of disinfectants, and in chemistry labs.
  • Organic mercury: Found in coal fumes, fish that ate methylmercury (form of organic mercury) and older antiseptics (germ killers like red mercurochrome).

Anyone with concerns about mercury exposure can consult their health care provider and/or their poison control center at 800-222-1222.

Cause/Sources of Exposure

Exposure to mercury can occur by any method. Dental amalgam fillings and eating fish that have been exposed to mercury are the main cause of mercury poisoning. Potential ways you could expose your body to mercury include:

  • Inhaling mercury vapor (small droplets of mercury that become airborne and enter your lungs)
  • Eating fish or seafood that naturally contains large amounts of organic mercury
  • Swallowing or touching liquid mercury

Mercury exposure can occur at home or even in a hospital setting through broken thermometers and blood pressure monitors. These conditions are hazardous even without touching the mercury because it produces mercury vapors.

Some folk medicine and cosmetics contain mercury. It is also used in the paint industry, neon signs, outdoor lighting, cameras, electrical switches, and some batteries.

Those at High-Risk of Severe Illness

Infants in the womb can be exposed to methylmercury when their mothers eat fish and shellfish that contain methylmercury. This exposure can adversely affect unborn infants’ growing brains and nervous systems. These systems may be more vulnerable to methylmercury than the brains and nervous systems of adults are.

Children exposed to methylmercury while they are in the womb can have impacts to their cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, fine motor skills, and visual spatial skills.

Testing

Blood, urine, and hair can be tested by your health care provider for the presence of mercury.

Information for Health Care Providers

Mercury Exposure from Skin-Lightening Products – Fact Sheet for Health Care Providers
Mercury poisoning has been identified with the use of some internationally obtained skin-lightening products. Florida DOH has developed this fact sheet to aid health care providers.