在沿海雾中发现了大量的有毒汞

在沿海雾中发现了大量的有毒汞

It's been nearly 40 years since John Carpenter's cult-classic horror film, "The Fog," was unleashed upon the world, and it continues to haunt us in some unexpectedly realistic ways.

约翰·卡朋特的经典恐怖电影《迷雾》上映已经快40年了，它以一些出人意料的现实方式继续困扰着我们。

Coastal fog might be a heath hazard. (Photo: Aileen Devlin, Virginia Sea Grant [CC BY-ND 2.0]/Flickr)

In the film, a deadly supernatural fog engulfs a California coastal town, killing all those who wander into its mist. Now it turns out this zany plot might actually contain more truth than fiction, and living in coastal communities everywhere might bear serious consequences.

在电影中，一场致命的超自然雾笼罩了加利福尼亚的一个沿海小镇，所有在雾中漫步的人都被杀死了。现在，事实证明，这个滑稽的情节实际上可能比小说包含更多的真相，生活在沿海社区可能会产生严重的后果。

A new study out of the University of California, Santa Cruz, has detected alarming levels of toxic mercury in California's coastal fog. The research is just the latest confirmation that this neurotoxin can be carried in fog, deposited on land, and found within the food chain, according to Phys.org.

加州大学圣克鲁斯分校的一项新研究发现，加州沿海雾霾中有毒汞的含量达到了令人担忧的水平。据Phys.org网站报道，这项研究只是最新的一次证实，这种神经毒素可以在雾中携带，沉积在陆地上，并在食物链中被发现。

The first warning sign occurred when researchers studying mountain lions in California's Santa Cruz Mountains measured dangerous concentrations of mercury in the cats' systems. At least one lion studied had mercury levels known to be toxic to species like mink and otters, and two others had "sublethal" levels that reduce fertility and reproductive success. A deeper look found that mercury contamination in coastal environments runs far deeper than what was found in the lions, though.

第一个警告信号出现在研究人员对加利福尼亚州圣克鲁斯山的美洲狮进行研究时，他们测量了猫科动物体内汞的危险浓度。至少有一头被研究的狮子体内的汞含量已知对水貂和水獭等物种是有毒的，而另外两只狮子体内的汞含量处于“亚致死”水平，会降低它们的生育能力和繁殖成功率。更深入的研究发现，沿海环境中的汞污染比狮子体内的汞污染要严重得多。

A study led by Peter Weiss-Penzias, an environmental toxicologist who has pioneered the study of pollutants in coastal fog, also found that mercury levels in lichen and deer were significantly higher inside the fog belt than beyond it. The correlation of elevated mercury levels with the fog zone made the source of the toxin obvious: it was in the fog.

环境毒理学家彼得·韦斯-彭齐亚斯领导的一项研究还发现，地衣和鹿体内的汞含量在雾带内明显高于雾带外。汞含量升高与雾区之间的相关性使得毒素的来源显而易见:它就在雾中。

"Lichen don't have any roots so the presence of elevated methylmercury in lichen must come from the atmosphere," said Weiss-Penzias. "Mercury becomes increasingly concentrated in organisms higher up the food chain."

“地衣没有任何根，所以地衣中甲基汞含量的升高肯定来自大气，”Weiss-Penzias说。“汞越来越多地集中在食物链较高的生物体中。”

The lichen get eaten by the deer, which get eaten by the mountain lions. Due to a process known as bioaccumulation, by the time the mountain lions get exposed, the mercury has been magnified by a significant degree. What begins as trace amounts of methylmercury in tiny water droplets floating through the air becomes life-threatening levels of deadly neurotoxin.

地衣被鹿吃，鹿被山狮吃。由于一种被称为生物积累的过程，当美洲狮暴露在水银下时，水银已经被放大了很大程度。当微量的甲基汞在空气中飘浮时，致命的神经毒素就会威胁到生命。

In collecting data for this study, Weiss-Penzias recalled of his own tale and what led him into doing toxicology research on fog. Once, while riding his bike along the coast, he thought to himself: "I was riding through this absolute fogstorm, with water dripping off my glasses, and I just wondered, 'What's in this stuff?'"

在为这项研究收集数据的过程中，维斯-彭齐亚斯回忆了自己的经历，以及是什么促使他对雾进行毒理学研究。有一次，他骑着自行车沿着海岸骑行，心想:“我骑着车穿过这片浓雾，水从我的眼镜上滴下来，我在想，‘这是什么东西?’”

When he collected samples and brought them into the lab for testing, the results surprised everyone. "The lab called me, saying they'd have to re-run the tests, because they didn't believe the numbers," he recalled.

当他收集样本并把它们带到实验室进行测试时，结果让所有人都大吃一惊。“实验室打电话给我，说他们必须重新进行测试，因为他们不相信这些数字，”他回忆说。

While this latest study was performed on California's coastal ecosystems, researchers warn that what they found there can likely be found in coastal fog around the world. That's because the source of mercury in coastal fog is from the ocean, and the world's oceans have a fairly even distribution of this toxin across the planet.

虽然这项最新的研究是在加利福尼亚的沿海生态系统上进行的，但研究人员警告说，他们在那里发现的东西可能会在世界各地的沿海雾中发现。这是因为沿海雾中的汞来自于海洋，而世界各大洋中这种毒素的分布相当均匀。

The oceans aren't to blame, though; we are. The increased amount of mercury found in our oceans is directly connected with an increased amount of pollution generated from mining and coal-fired power plants around the world. "Mercury is a global pollutant," explained Weiss-Penzias. "What's emitted in China can affect the United States just as much as what's emitted in the United States."

然而，海洋并不是罪魁祸首;我们是来旅游的。海洋中汞含量的增加与世界各地采矿和燃煤发电厂产生的污染增加直接相关。“汞是一种全球性的污染物，”维斯-彭齐亚斯解释说。“中国排放的气体对美国的影响和美国的排放一样大。”

An international treaty was adopted in 2013 to protect humans and the environment from mercury. It was called the Minamata Convention on Mercury, named after a Japanese city that suffered a terrible incident of mercury poisoning. Weiss-Penzias hopes that this latest research will bring attention to the fact that our coastal ecosystems are especially impacted by this dangerous toxin.

2013年通过了一项保护人类和环境免受汞污染的国际条约。它被称为水俣病公约，以一个遭受可怕的汞中毒事件的日本城市命名。韦斯-彭齐亚斯希望这项最新的研究能够引起人们对这样一个事实的关注:我们的沿海生态系统尤其受到这种危险毒素的影响。

"It's important for the future of that treaty to understand all the different ways that mercury impacts the environment," he said.

他说:“了解汞对环境的各种不同影响方式，对该条约的未来很重要。”