Molly Ivins: Mercury rising

This is one of those stories that I'd really like to start with a loud scream to give people some idea of how terrible it is. As a newspaper story, it has no soundtrack and comes without pictures. It appears to involve some technical aspects of an environmental regulation, and that can be counted on to bore the shoes and socks off people.

But there is a picture, quite a famous one, that you should search out so you will know what is at stake. The picture, by the great photojournalist W. Eugene Smith, is known as "The Madonna of Minamata" and is of a Japanese woman in a hot bath with an expression of terrible sorrow and tenderness on her face as she holds the hopelessly deformed body of her daughter.

Smith's classic book, "Minamata: Words and Photographs," is about the site of a horrific 1970s case of widespread mercury poisoning. No one who sees Smith's photos can ever forget them. There was a years-long struggle between the townspeople of Minamata and the corporation responsible for the mercury poisoning, which did not want to admit fault. During that struggle, corporate guards beat Smith so badly he lost his eyesight.

So, that's what this is about. Not that anyone has blinded a great photojournalist lately, but mercury in the environment is mercury in the environment, and mercury hotspots are mind-bogglingly dangerous. Mercury is a neurotoxin that is particularly dangerous to developing fetuses and infants. Even in minute quantities, it produces brain damage ranging from retardation to loss of IQ to attention deficit disorder.

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I often think I have exhausted my capacity for outrage with this administration. Sheesh, why let what it does ruin a beautiful spring day in Texas? But I know kids with ADD and low IQs and brain damage, and I've seen the pictures from Minamata. If you can't reach outrage over this one, you may be eating too much mercury-tainted fish.

more...

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=18786

Sorry I missed posting this yesterday, another great (if heartbreakng) column from Molly.

One in six kids born in America today has neurological damage. How many of these are from mercury poisoning?

Democratic senators are speaking out about the mercury issue, but I haven't heard a word of this in the media.
Here are three separate items from the home page of Sen Kerry's senate website.

“Why did the administration hide its own research on toxic mercury pollution when the health of women and children is on the line? How can you make the right decision when the facts are buried to help corporate special interest? This isn't an academic debate. Every year more than 600,000 infants are born with dangerously high levels of mercury in their blood. The National Academy of Sciences has warned us that mercury can lead to learning disabilities, seizures and cerebral palsy in children. There's growing evidence that mercury may contribute to autism. And now experts commissioned by the Bush administration are warning us about mercury leading to heart attacks. Why is the EPA suppressing the evidence that mercury pollution can be controlled better and faster?”

more at

http://kerry.senate.gov/high/record.cfm?id=234450

“The number of babies with dangerous levels of mercury in their blood has doubled. The National Academy of Sciences has confirmed that unsafe levels of mercury in fish can directly lead to learning disabilities, seizures and cerebral palsy in children. And yet this administration's response is one of the weakest pollution rules ever written for a major industry. When fathers can't feed their families the fish they catch and children can't learn in school, is the Bush administration really willing to allow an extra 10 years of higher mercury pollution?

“This is a simple question of right and wrong. Mercury pollution must be controlled better and faster than this administration has proposed. It's unacceptable to give the industry a pass when our children will pay the price.”

more at

http://kerry.senate.gov/high/record.cfm?id=233550


Dear Administrator Johnson:


It was both troubling and disheartening to learn from this week’s Washington Post article that the Environmental Protection Agency omitted consideration of a key piece of analysis, conducted by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, from the mercury rules finalized last week. It appears that EPA excluded consideration of the Harvard study because these findings estimated far greater health benefits, including cardiovascular benefits, from regulating mercury emissions from power plants than the Administration asserted in one of the final rules. The Agency did so even though there was a study done by the EPA water office that found similar results and emphasized the economic benefits of reducing mercury's cardiovascular effects. We would like a full explanation of why this failure occurred, including whether you were aware of the Harvard study results and consented to disregarding its findings.

more at

http://kerry.senate.gov/high/record.cfm?id=234515

does is outrageous. So outrageous that words cannot express the horror of it all.
It's not only the administration, but the republicans in congress who aren't hauling them all up before a congressional investigation and impeachment hearing. Every blinking one of the inhabitants of the white house and the heads of departments from Education to Parks should be removed from office for malfeasance, treason, crimes against the nation.
Where are the honest republicans? Without at least one or two to call for investigations, all is lost...all is lost.

contribute to help this issue gain prominance

Literally. Thanks US government. This slow painful death is wonderful. And the memory loss is exquisite.

Sorry, having a bad day, didn't mean to be cynical.

PA alone spews 9700 lbs of this shit into the air yearly and it takes one drop to render the fish in a small lake unfit for consumption.

My 6 month old nephew was born with 2 dime sized holes in his heart, hydronephrosis, thick blood (too many red calls), a brain abscess, a very narrow throat, partially closed eyes, vision problems, possible hearing problems, a heart valve that is too small and I can't remember the rest. He is being given a permanent feeding tube.

Another nephew, age 7, has a genetic defect that can cause strokes at any time. He also has learning disabilities and has repeated kindergarten and first grade twice each, despite being a bright child. He doesn't seem to connect emotionally with anyone and I suspect there is a degree of autism.

My sister of the 6 month old nephew has been anorexic for years, since she was a child ( she is now 34) and has been hospitalized with severe electrolyte imbalances and collapsed lungs at different times. Anorexia is another symptom of mercury poisoning.

All of us have had bright pink palms since birth for my 3 half-sisters and since age 7 for myself. Some have had skin peeling off horribly. It's called acrodynia. Mom had them after low level chronic exposure to mercuric chloride from 1965 to their births in 1968, 1970 and 1973. I was exposed starting at age 7.

There is much irrational behavior amongst my siblings, a symptom of mercury poisoning. Emotional problems abound, though they receive no help for any, only "crazy" people need therapy is the motto in my family. My sisters were poisoned inutero by mercury and it shows in their lack of empathy for anyone, even their own children. I know that sounds harsh, but it is very sad but true.

I'm afraid the worst is yet to come in our family. I pray each day for a miracle. No one will listen.

A lot of people know that the "Clear Skies Act" is bogus. Not as many know why or the damage being done.


All people should be worried about their children, their grandchildren, the general population as well as all of the wildlife.


The calamity that was being predicted in the 70's (60's?) is here. We are living and dying with it. We are poisoned by it.


B**h and his friends and everyone who voted for him are making it worse - pushing us closer to the point of no return - where everything and everyone is affected by it.

Unfortunately - without such a dramatic picture - people don't see the more subtle effects that mercury is having on our country/the world.The growing statistics of Autism...

http://www.maps.nrdc.org:8000/mercury/default.asp


This is a very cool map. You can click on it to find what the sources of mercury are in your area and other areas.



See also this site:

http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/states.asp