Crucially however, as the levels of mercury in the body rise, more symptoms will appear. These symptoms may vary depending on a person’s age and exposure levels. Adults with mercury poisoning may experience symptoms such as:
- Muscle weakness
- Metallic taste in the mouth
- Nausea and vomiting
- Lack of motor skills or feeling uncoordinated
- Inability to feel in the hands, face, or other areas
- Changes in vision, hearing, or speech
- Difficulty breathing
- Difficulty walking or standing straight.
Mercury poisoning can also be detrimental to developing children, affecting their motor skills, hand-eye coordination and ability to problem solve. These symptoms tend to develop slowly over time if a person comes into frequent contact with mercury. However, in some cases, mercury poisoning comes on quickly and is associated with a specific incident.
In contrast to mercury, the arsenic found in seafood presents minimal risk to humans. However, inorganic arsenic can be found in a very small amount of seafood, but this tends to fall well short of the toxic threshold in humans.
If enough arsenic is digested for some particular reason, it can have severely damaging effects. The AACC explains that high levels can cause neurological damage, anaemia, leucopenia, and vascular disease, while low-level chronic exposure increases an individual’s risk of developing cancer.
