The Problem With Mercury: Pervasive, Perilous and Persistent

[ensho]

http://blog.buzzflash.com/alerts/692


You can't fry it out. You can't bake it out. You can't fillet it out.

While a new government study shows how pervasive mercury contamination is in our waterways, what might surprise you is what it does to the human body. At high levels the contaminant can affect the central nervous system and irreversibly damage areas of the brain.

The scary part, though, is how hard mercury is to get rid of. For humans, it takes 70 days for half the body burden of mercury to be eliminated from the human body. And that's if you manage to not eat any during that time.

-snip-

Many of the highest mercury level concentrations in fish were found in the dark-colored, or "blackwater", streams that run through relatively undeveloped forests and wetlands in the Eastern and Southeastern United States, such as Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and North and South Carolina. High levels of mercury in fish were also found in more undeveloped watersheds in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, as well as streams along the West Coast that have been contaminated by mining.

Mercury is one of the most serious contaminants threatening our nation's environment. Much of it is released into the country's natural waters by mercury that is emitted into the atmosphere, mostly from emissions by coal-fired power plants, which is then deposited in the water through rainfall. Best estimates released by the USGS show that to date, human activities have approximately doubled or tripled the amount of mercury in the atmosphere, and that number is increasing by 1.5 percent each year.

-snip-

At the current levels in our environment however, many adults may only experience a milder case of mercury poisoning that can result in reductions in motor skills and a dulled sense of touch, taste and sight.

Those at the greatest risk, however, are unborn children. Recent research from the USGS suggests that prenatal effects of mercury occur at intake levels 5 to 10 times lower than the average adult, which may result in learning disabilities.
-snip-
----------------------------


isn't 'learning disabilities' a growing problem with our children? Isn't it?

and what adult wants to have 'a reduction in motor skills'? or a 'dulled sense of touch, taste and sight'?

touch and taste is one thing, but 'sight' is a biggie!

[dana_b]

1. you can't fillet it out, you can't fry it out...

but we could take care of our environment! Ugh.