China's municipal wastewater policies enhanced seafood safety and offset health risks from atmospheric mercury emissions in the past four decades.

The neurotoxin methylmercury in seafood threatens food safety worldwide. China has implemented stringent wastewater policies, established numerous treatment facilities and enforced rigorous water quality standards to address pollution in its waterways. However, the impact of these policies on seafood safety and methylmercury exposure remains unknown.

Warming-Induced Vegetation Greening May Aggravate Soil Mercury Levels Worldwide.

Mercury, a neurotoxic substance, circulates globally, significantly stored in soils through atmospheric deposition and plant decay. Despite being deposited, mercury can be remobilized and released into the atmosphere and water, enhancing its global cycle. Recent research suggests that climate warming may amplify the remobilization of soil mercury, facilitating its incorporation into food webs that humans exploit.

Total mercury, methylmercury, and their possible controlling factors in soils of typical coastal wetlands in China.

Coastal wetland soils play a critical role in the global mercury (Hg) cycle, serving as both an important repository for total mercury (THg) and a hotspot for methylmercury (MeHg) production. This study investigated Hg pollution in soils dominated by Phragmites australis (PA) and Spartina alterniflora (SA) across five representative China's coastal wetlands (Yellow River (YR), Linhong River (LHR), Yangtze River (CJR), Min River (MR), and Nanliu River (NLR)). The THg concentrations ranged from 16.

Large-Scale Observations Support Aboveground Vegetation as an Important Biological Mercury Sink in the Tibetan Plateau.

Mercury, a pervasive global pollutant, primarily enters the atmosphere through human activities and legacy emissions from the land and oceans. A significant portion of this mercury subsequently settles on land through vegetation uptake. Characterizing mercury storage and distribution within vegetation is essential for comprehending regional and global mercury cycles.

Wintertime Formation of Large Sulfate Particles in China and Implications for Human Health.

Outdoor air pollution causes millions of premature deaths annually worldwide. Sulfate is a major component of particulate pollution. Winter sulfate observations in China show both high concentrations and an accumulation mode with a modal size >1 μm.

Significant impacts of river inputs on the distributions and transports of mercury and methylmercury in nearshore and open seas - Simulation based on field surveys and mass balance modeling.

Rivers are important sources of Hg for adjacent seas, and seafood from nearshore waters is a major source of Hg exposure for humans. There is thus a key scientific concern regarding how much riverine Hg inputs influence Hg loads in nearshore waters as well as how far the impact range can extend from the river to the open sea. In addition, it is important to understand the influence of anthropogenic hydro-facilities and activities on Hg levels in downstream seas.

Riverine Discharge Fuels the Production of Methylmercury in a Large Temperate Estuary.

Estuaries are an important food source for the world's growing population, yet human health is at risk from elevated exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) via the consumption of estuarine fish. Moreover, the sources and cycling of MeHg in temperate estuarine ecosystems are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the seasonal and tidal patterns of mercury (Hg) forms in Long Island Sound (LIS), in a location where North Atlantic Ocean waters mix with the Connecticut River.

Transport of mercury in a regulated high-sediment river and its input to marginal seas.

Seafood is a major source of Hg exposure for humans, and rivers are an important source of Hg for adjacent seas. The Yellow River is an extremely high-sediment river that is heavily influenced by anthropogenic water facilities, especially sediment regulations, which might result in significant intra- and inter- year flux variations on pollutants. Overestimations of Hg flux were found in previous studies on high-sediment rivers, and a comprehensive study of Hg transport along such a river has not yet been attempted.

Rapid Increase in China's Industrial Ammonia Emissions: Evidence from Unit-Based Mapping.

Ammonia (NH) is an important precursor of secondary inorganic aerosols and greatly impacts nitrogen deposition and acid rain. Previous studies have mainly focused on the agricultural NH emissions, while recent research has noted that industrial sources could be significant in China. However, detailed estimates of NH emitted from industrial sectors in China are lacking.

Substantial accumulation of mercury in the deepest parts of the ocean and implications for the environmental mercury cycle.

Anthropogenic activities have led to widespread contamination with mercury (Hg), a potent neurotoxin that bioaccumulates through food webs. Recent models estimated that, presently, 200 to 600 t of Hg is sequestered annually in deep-sea sediments, approximately doubling since industrialization. However, most studies did not extend to the hadal zone (6,000- to 11,000-m depth), the deepest ocean realm.

Observation-Based Mercury Export from Rivers to Coastal Oceans in East Asia.

Globally, the consumption of coastal fish is the predominant source of human exposure to methylmercury, a potent neurotoxicant that poses health risks to humans. However, the relative importance of riverine inputs and atmospheric deposition of mercury into coastal oceans remains uncertain owing to a lack of riverine mercury observations. Here, we present comprehensive seasonal observations of riverine mercury and methylmercury loads, including dissolved and particulate phases, to East Asia's coastal oceans, which supply nearly half of the world's seafood products.

Biotransport of mercury and human methylmercury exposure through crabs in China - A life cycle-based analysis.

Exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) has various toxic effects on humans. The evaluation of human MeHg exposure has previously focused on fish consumption. However, in this study, we found that MeHg levels in domestic crabs in China were also relatively high (range: 50-1400 ng/g, dry weight).

Mercury and methylmercury in China's lake sediments and first estimation of mercury burial fluxes.

Lake sediments are key materials for mercury deposition and methylation. To understand the mercury concentrations in China's lakes, 100 lake surface sediment samples were collected from 35 lakes in 2014. Total mercury (THg), methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations and the annual Hg burial rates in lake sediments were measured.

Rapid Increase in Cement-Related Mercury Emissions and Deposition in China during 2005-2015.

The cement industry has become the largest mercury (Hg) emission source in China. Better understanding Hg emission and deposition characteristics and drivers of Hg emission changes can increase the awareness of related risks and support effective policy making. The results show that due to the substantial increase in the use of new suspension preheater and precalciner (NSP) technology in China, an approximate two-fold increase from 80.

The impact of the Three Gorges Dam on the fate of metal contaminants across the river-ocean continuum.

The Three Gorges Dam (TGD) is the world's largest hydropower construction. It can significantly impact contaminant transport in the Yangtze River-East China Sea Continuum (YR-ECSC). In addition to evaluating the impact of the TGD on the deposition of contaminants in the reservoir, we also address their cycles in the river below the dam and in the coastal East China Sea.

Establishment of High-Resolution Atmospheric Mercury Emission Inventories for Chinese Cement Plants Based on the Mass Balance Method.

China is the world's largest cement-related mercury emitter. Atmospheric mercury inventories for China's cement industry are essential for appraising global mercury emissions and have been widely developed in previous studies associated with considerable uncertainties. In this study, we compiled high tempo-spatial resolution atmospheric mercury emission inventories for Chinese cement plants using the mass balance method and plant-level input-output data.

Significant elevation of human methylmercury exposure induced by the food trade in Beijing, a developing megacity.

Methylmercury (MeHg) poses health risks to humans worldwide. The investigation of a longer chain of biogeochemical MeHg transport from production to consumption than that addressed in previous studies could provide additional scientific foundation for the reduction of risks. The main objective of this study is to identify the impacts of the interregional food trade along with the age, gender and socioeconomic status of people on human MeHg exposure in a developing megacity.

Rice life cycle-based global mercury biotransport and human methylmercury exposure.

Protecting the environment and enhancing food security are among the world's greatest challenges. Fish consumption is widely considered to be the single significant dietary source of methylmercury. Nevertheless, by synthesizing data from the past six decades and using a variety of models, we find that rice could be a significant global dietary source of human methylmercury exposure, especially in South and Southeast Asia.

A WRF-Chem model-based future vehicle emission control policy simulation and assessment for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China.

Using 2025 as the target year, we quantitatively assessed the reduction potentials of emissions of primary pollutants (including CO, HC, NO, PM and PM) under different vehicle control policies and the impacts of vehicle emission control policies in the BTH region on the regional PM concentration in winter and the surface ozone (O) concentration in summer. Comparing the different scenarios, we found that (1) vehicle control policies will bring significant reductions in the emissions of primary pollutants. Among the individual policies, upgrading new vehicle emission standards and fuel quality in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei will be the most effective policy, with emission reductions of primary pollutants of 26.

Sources and transport of methylmercury in the Yangtze River and the impact of the Three Gorges Dam.

The magnitude of environmental change due to anthropogenic impacts might greatly exceed that of natural disturbances. In this work, we quantitatively examine the impacts of river damming, soil erosion, and point-source release on the transport of methylmercury (MeHg) throughout the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world. Based on seasonal observations and the subsequent material flow analysis, we found that in 2016, the Yangtze River discharged 470 ± 200 kg MeHg to the coastal and shelf areas, a value at least ten-fold larger than existing observations in other large rivers around the world.

An experimental study of the impacts of solar radiation and temperature on mercury emission from different natural soils across China.

Mercury (Hg) emission from natural soil is one of the most important contributors to global Hg cycles. Research on Hg emission from soil to air has been carried out in China. Currently, most of the research focuses on contaminated sites in China, while research in other regions is rare.

Evolution of the life cycle primary PM emissions in globalized production systems.

Production system-related air pollution emissions are dominant components in global emission reduction targets and in realizing relevant sustainable development goals (SDGs). To better understand the air pollution emissions induced by globalized production systems through a life cycle perspective, environmental extended multiregional input-output (EE-MRIO) analysis was applied to calculate the primary product-based emissions and the final product-based emissions embodied in the global production systems. Combined with two types of linkage analysis, named the hypothetical extraction method (HEM) and the emissions pure backward linkage (EPBL), emissions were analysed at three scopes at the sector level from macro sector linkage perspectives.

Ecological risk assessment of the increasing use of the neonicotinoid insecticides along the east coast of China.

In the past two decades, neonicotinoid insecticides have been widely used in agricultural activities in China. Many previous studies have investigated the neonicotinoid pollution in aquatic ecosystems, but the status of water safety of neonicotinoid uses in China is very scarce. The present study aims to reveal the spatial and temporal distribution of neonicotinoids in rivers, and then evaluate the ecological risks to aquatic animals.