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 new chemical not listed in the 1976 act by using a PMN. Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) does not require any toxicity testing before submitting a PMN No safety information is required to be included in the PMN, so the EPA must rely on computer modeling to determine whether the new chemical "may present an unreasonable risk." In order to regulate new chemicals, the EPA must determine that the chemical "...may present an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment..." or show that the chemical "... is or will be produced in substantial quantities, and