WASHINGTON (AP) - In much of the world's oceans, levels of the metal mercury are double to triple what they were before the industrial revolution, a new study says.
Researchers found there's more mercury from human sources - mostly burning fossil fuels and mining for gold - than scientists had thought.
The study assessed inorganic mercury, which in the ocean gets converted into the toxic methylmercury found in seafood. When pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children eat too much methylmercury-tainted seafood, there's an increased risk of nervous system problems in the developing child.
The new results don't provide any immediate conclusions about eating fish, says Carl Lamborg of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts.
His study found that mercury concentration varied by depth, generally higher at the surface and mid-level depths than in deep water.