Tarah,

 

I think the Chapter should develop a FACT Sheet and educational publication about the danger of mercury and the need in Iowa to track this pollution.

 

I will be happy to help with this development as a volunteer.

And I think I can raise the money to publish the material when it is completed.

 

At the Governor's Water Summit, the water expert mentioned mercury in one sentence of her presentation saying, if I remember right, "we are beginning to measure mercury levels in some waters."

 

Let's take the mercury bull by the horns and be proactive.

 

Chris Bedford

[log in to unmask]

515-283-0777



	-----Original Message----- 

	From: Tarah Heinzen [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 

	Sent: Thu 12/11/2003 5:33 PM 

	To: [log in to unmask] 

	Cc: 

	Subject: FW: Bush Administration Contradicts Itself about Mercury

	

	



	Iowa is one of only 6 states that doesn't have a program to educate the

	public about the risks of eating mercury contaminated fish, and our reliance

	on coal means this will be a growing public health threat here and

	elsewhere...

	

	tarah

	

	-----Original Message-----

	From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]

	Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 2:07 PM

	To: [log in to unmask];

	[log in to unmask];

	[log in to unmask];

	[log in to unmask]

	Subject: Bush Administration Contradicts Itself about Mercury

	

	

	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

	December 10, 2003

	

	CONTACT:

	Wendy Balazik, 202-675-2383

	

	BUSH ADMINISTRATION CONTRADICTS ITSELF

	While Dismantling Mercury Protections, Administration Cautions Women and

	Children to Reduce Fish Consumption

	

	Washington, DC- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the

	Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today expanded health warnings about

	the toxic effects of eating mercury-tainted fish in a draft advisory set to

	be finalized early next year.  This comes on the heels of the Bush

	administration's recent sweeping changes that would make it easier for

	polluters to avoid cleaning up mercury.

	

	Today's action by the FDA and EPA increased the number of fish species with

	unsafe levels of mercury and expanded the list of people who are most hurt

	by mercury, adding children, nursing mothers and women who may become

	pregnant.

	

	"It is astonishing that while the Bush administration is warning people

	about increased health threats from eating mercury-laden fish, it is

	weakening the very clean air protections that would reduce mercury

	pollution," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club's executive director.  "Just last

	week, the Bush administration announced a plan to loosen protections for

	mercury pollution in our air; and today, two federal agencies report that

	more fish than ever have dangerous levels of mercury.   We call on the Bush

	administration to enforce clean air laws that are on the books and require

	power plants to install new technology to control this dangerous

	pollutant."

	

	Mercury is a powerful toxin that causes learning and developmental

	disabilities in children.  Women of childbearing age and people who

	regularly and frequently eat highly contaminated fish, or even large

	amounts of moderately contaminated fish, are most likely to be at risk from

	mercury exposure.  Children exposed in the womb or after birth, subsistence

	fisherman and certain Native American populations are at risk.

	

	Forty-four states have warned the public to limit consumption of fish from

	mercury-contaminated lakes and rivers.  Mercury works its way up the

	aquatic food chain and into the human body in a toxic form. The threat is

	especially great to the offspring of women who have high levels of mercury

	-- hence the advisories that urge women of child-bearing age and children

	reduce the consumption of some species of fish and avoid others completely.

	One of every dozen of U.S. women of childbearing age has mercury in their

	bodies at levels that could threaten their unborn children.

	

	Airborne deposits account for the bulk of mercury, which occurs naturally

	in coal and rises out of it as it burns. Regulation has been sought under

	the 1990 Clean Air Act, with a December 15 deadline set for rule-making.

	The EPA seemed poised to order a 90 percent cutback in mercury emitted from

	coal-powered plants by 2008. Instead, the long-term goal will be a 70

	percent reduction by 2018, the EPA said last week.  By one estimate, that

	means 300 more tons of mercury coming down with the rain over the next 15

	years.  The EPA's decision to back off of its more stringent pollution

	control standards is an unacceptable concession to wealthy power companies

	that puts the public's health at risk, Pope said.

	

	# # #

	

	Wendy Balazik

	Media Coordinator

	Sierra Club

	Phone:  202-675-2383

	Fax:  202-547-6009

	

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