Mercury — are we studying the right endpoints and mechanisms

Mercury and methylmercury are major environmental contaminants. New concerns have arisen based upon reports of increasing levels in biota and ecosystems, as well as concerns for low level toxicity. Despite the substantial knowledge about mercury toxicity, there are gaps in our knowledge that limit the development of science based risk assessments. First, mechanistic research on mercury/methylmercury toxicity is not clearly related to sublethal and noncytotoxic effects. Second, relatively little attention has been paid to nonneurotoxic effects of mercury, specifically, immunototoxic effects. Because of this, caution is needed in evaluating the health risk of mercury, particularly if important sources of ongoing releases are not identified or adequately controlled.