A button battery pollutes 600000 liters of water, enough for one person to drink for a lifetime

A small button battery:

If you put it in your watch, you can run for several months;

The car key can provide a safe lock for a small car;

Put it in children's toys, and it will become a source of happiness for children

However, this small button battery may also bring terrible hidden dangers, changing from a "little helper" to a "little devil"!

Hazards of battery pollution

◎ A button battery can pollute 600000 liters of water after being discarded into nature, which is equivalent to a person's lifetime water consumption.

◎ A piece of No. 5 waste battery rots in the ground, which can make one square meter of land lose its use value.

◎ Eating animals and plants polluted by waste batteries will cause serious damage to human brain nervous system.

This is not alarmist. The main toxic component of button batteries is mercury, which can evaporate at room temperature and also be converted into methyl mercury. This is the culprit of pollution.

In today's advocating water conservation, we often neglect the protection of resources. It is also the source of our life to classify waste batteries.

How terrible is the water polluted by toxic mercury? After reading the following cases, you will understand.

"Minamata disease" incident

In 1956, a strange disease was found near Minamata Bay, Kumamoto County, Japan. This disease first appeared in cats and was called "cat chorea". Cats suffering from this disease show convulsions, paralysis, and even jump into the sea to die.

Strange cat

Soon afterwards, people suffering from this disease were also found here.

The symptoms include slurred speech, faltering steps, facial dementia, hand and foot paralysis, sensory impairment, visual loss, tremor, hand and foot deformation, nervous disorders in severe cases, or deep sleep, or excitement, and body bowing and shouting until death.

This symptom only occurs in Minamata Town and its surrounding residents, so at the beginning, people called this disease "Minamata disease".

Takak Isayama, a 12-year-old victim of Minamata disease

At first, doctors and scientists were unable to know the cause of this disease, and everyone panicked.

In February 1959, after years of investigation, it was revealed that Minamata disease was related to heavy metal poisoning. Residents around Minamata Bay have eaten aquatic products seriously polluted by methylmercury, and the phenomenon of collective poisoning has occurred.

Untreated sewage is directly discharged into the sea

The culprit was a nearby chemical plant, which discharged waste water containing a large amount of mercury into Minamata Bay all year round. The contaminated fish and shrimp entered animals and humans through the food chain.

Schematic diagram of methyl mercury transfer through the food chain

In the following 12 years, Minamata disease continued to spread in the local area. Among more than 40000 residents of Minamata Town, more than 10000 people have been suffering from this strange disease in succession. Almost every family has a patient, and many people can only die slowly in pain.

It is sad to find that Minamata disease will accompany the whole family from generation to generation and will never be eliminated.

A pregnant woman who has Minamata disease will also have congenital Minamata disease. Only death can end the curse.

Minamata disease engulfed the health and family happiness of local people, and the whole town was shrouded in fear of death.