Mercury (element) polluted water. They arise by a process known as biomethylation. Mercury is used primarily for the manufacture of industrial chemicals or for electrical and electronic applications. It is used in some thermometers, especially ones which are used to measure high temperatures. A still increasing amount is used as gaseous mercury in fluorescent lamps, while most of the other applications are slowly phased out due to health and safety regulations and is in some applications replaced with less toxic but considerably more expensive Galinstan alloy. Mercury and its compounds have been used in medicine, although they are much less common today
Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 Section 5(h)(3), and radioactive materials and wastes regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The EPA reviews new chemical notifications and if it finds an "unreasonable risk to human health or the environment," it may regulate the substance from limiting uses or production volume to outright banning it. In 2013, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act was proposed as the first major overhaul in many years. The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 mandated the EPA to protect the public from "unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment" by regulating the manufacture and sale