revised final - Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ...

MERCURY 105
2. HEALTH EFFECTS
chloride resulted in increased deaths in male mice (B6C3F 1 strain) at 0.69 mg Hg/kg/day but no increased
mortality in females at up to 0.60 mg Hg/kg/day (Mitsumori et al. 1990).
The highest NOAEL values and all reliable LOAEL values for death for each species and duration category
are recorded in Table 2-3 and plotted in Figure 2-3 for organic mercury.
2.2.2.2 Systemic Effects
Ingestion of mercury compounds has been associated with systemic toxicity in both humans and animals.
As with inhalation exposure to metallic mercury vapor, the major target organs of toxicity following oral
exposure to inorganic and organic mercury are the kidneys and the central nervous system, respectively.
Available information is limited mainly to that concerning exposure to mercuric chloride and methylmercuric
chloride. Oral exposure to mercury, especially the organic mercury form, has also been observed
to result in adverse developmental effects in humans and experimental animals. A discussion of the
differences in the toxicities of metallic mercury, inorganic compounds, and organic compounds of mercury
is presented in Section 2.5. The systemic effects observed after oral exposure are discussed below.
The highest NOAEL values and all reliable LOAEL values for systemic effects for each species and
duration category are recorded in Table 2-2 and plotted in Figure 2-2 for inorganic mercury, and recorded in
Table 2-3 and plotted in Figure 2-3 for organic mercury.
Respiratory Effects
Inorganic Mercury. Extremely limited information was located regarding respiratory effects in humans
after oral exposure to inorganic forms of mercury. A 35-year-old man who swallowed an unknown amount
of mercuric chloride had severe pulmonary edema and required artificial ventilation (Murphy et al. 1979).
Fine rales were detected in a 19-month-old boy who swallowed powdered mercuric chloride (Samuels et al.
1982). A 50-year-old female who ingested 5 tablets of a Chinese medicine that contained an unspecified
amount of mercurous chloride (Kang-Yum and Oransky 1992) experienced shortness of breath.
The only study located regarding respiratory effects in animals after oral exposure to inorganic mercury
described forceful and labored breathing, bleeding from the nose, and other unspecified respiratory