"I agree mercury is a huge problem"
Here are some estimates of this problem:
"As many as 600,000 babies may be born in the USA each year with irreversible brain damage because pregnant mothers ate mercury-contaminated fish, the Environmental Protection Agency says. Medical researchers are just beginning to explore such mercury exposure in adults, which can leave some people struggling through life in a disorienting "fish fog." Nationwide, more than 8,000 lakes, rivers and bays are compromised by mercury's toxic effects."
"EPA officials say that deep, rapid cuts in mercury emissions are unwarranted and too costly to the power industry and would produce nominal health benefits, because, in their view, most of the mercury deposited in U.S. lakes and streams comes from abroad."
I wonder if we can even think of assigning a cost to this level of damage. It has to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. At $100 billion a year, it works out to be $166,667 per baby and no cost for each "fish-fogged" adult. Would you accept $166,667 as settlement for brain damage for you baby? No, I didn't think so. So the cost has to be in the trillions of dollars every year.
More bad news - there is more coming from China to the US as winds generated by the earth's rotation carry it from the west to east.
"Mercury and other pollutants from China's more than 2,000 coal-fired power plants soar high into the atmosphere and around the globe on what has become a transcontinental conveyor belt of bad air."
More news on Mercury today
Olympic National Park to warn anglers of mercury levels in fish
By Brian Gawley, Peninsula Daily News
Sunday, April 27, 2008
OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — "Park officials will find a way to notify anglers that elevated mercury levels were found in some fish from the isolated PJ and Hoh lakes, said a park spokeswoman.
Mercury concentrations in some fish in the Olympic National Park lakes were among the highest measured in a six-year study of 20 national parks and monuments released by the National Park Service last week.
The amount exceeded the 185 parts per billion standard that triggers warnings for people."
"Pollution in pristine areas
The study was funded primarily by the National Park Service to evaluate the potential threats to park ecosystems and likely sources of these contaminants.
The study found evidence of 70 contaminants, including heavy metals and pesticides, of parks ranging from Denali in Alaska to Big Bend in Texas.
The study by the Western Airborne Contaminants Assessment Project was released Tuesday.
The findings show that even the most pristine wilderness areas are within reach of toxic byproducts of industry.
Because the locations are rarely visited by people, the prime source of the pollution is from the air."
Maybe, Gore can win a repeat Noble Prize for Mercury Poisoning of the Planet. I have a ready-made Powerpoint Presentation to use with his other one. All the melting ice is also probably increasing the mercury in our water.
usatoday.com
peninsuladailynews.com |
