Tarah and Others,
The Physicians For Social Responsibliy has excellent
materials including facts sheets on mercury and other
environmental toxins. Let me know if you would like a copy
sent to you.
Jim Fleming
641-469-5604
--- Bill Witt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> This is good strategy. The other thing that drew my
> attention was the
> recent Register story about lead-paint exposure of Latino
> children. It's
> the same story for black children, and indeed any
> children living in old
> and deteriorating low-rent housing. This is an
> environmental justice
> issue, as well as an economic justice issue. You can't
> attract low-wage
> labor without low-rent housing, except somebody always
> has to pick up the
> rest of the tab, someday. Same with polllution.
>
> So, is there a way to develop a common strategy around
> issues that tie in
> the health and future of our children with the health of
> our environment
> and the health of our economy?
>
> --Bill Witt
>
>
>
>
>
> > 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
>
=== message truncated ===
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