Mercury Policy Project

Due to potentially unsafe levels of mercury contained in light tuna, MPP and Got Mercury formally opposed its inclusion in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). They point out that the USDA cannot guarantee the safety of the mercury levels in canned light tuna because the FDA fails to adequately screen canned tuna and remove high-mercury canned tuna.

Climate change may be magnifying the mercury content of the polar bears’ diet.  A recently study, “Stable Isotope Food-web Analysis and Mercury Biomagnification in Polar Bears” shows that polar bears eat from two distinct food webs, one the ice algae-based web and the other  ocean’s phytoplankton-based food web.   As climate change shrinks the polar ice, polar bears face increased dependency on their other food source, the mercury-laden marine fish and animals.

Concord, New Hampshire

Green Concord is hosting a post-film discussion panel and screening of The Cove at 7pm, Monday, Dec. 14, at Red River Theatres with MPP and other specialists who will speak about the specific issues in The Cove and be available for questions and answers. After the main viewing, MPP will show a segment of the bonus feature “Mercury Rising” that explores the dangers of mercury contamination as it affects society and the global environment. Mercury Policy Project and GotMercury recently introduced the new Cove-GotMercury mercury-in-fish calculator that allows people to check mercury exposure from fish on-line or from a cell phone based on their weight, fish type and serving size.

The EPA’s new report, National Study of Chemical Residues in Lake Fish Tissue, found mercury in all fish from 500 lakes sampled randomly across the continental U.S.  The data also showed mercury concentrations in game fish exceed EPA’s human health screening levels at 49% of the lakes nationwide.  The EPA is taking steps to limit mercury emissions from power plants within the United States.  However, Mercury Policy Project’s director Michael Bender points out, “Two-thirds of the mercury that’s rained on Vermont and the U.S. comes from Asia and elsewhere outside the U.S.”  Therefore, the international pollution control treaty in the works could have an even greater impact on the U.S.

NECN reports Vermont Lakes Show Effects of Pollution.

At the request of New York State’s Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation, MPP provides expert testimony regarding methods to reduce mercury exposure. MPP stressed the state government’s responsibility to reduce and eliminate mercury uses and releases, and also to take steps to protect its population from mercury exposure risks.  Recommendations included to (1) expand risk communication for consumption of high-mercury fish, (2) strengthen mercury phase-out legislation, (3) pass new legislation requiring incentivized collections for mercury thermostats, and (4) establish maximum mercury-content standards for light bulbs.

Multiple studies released in August 2009 provide evidence of rising mercury contamination of the environment, fish and people.  The evidence that mercury levels have risen in people in the past several years is presented in a report released by UCLA, Assessment of chronic mercury exposure within the U.S. population, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999–2006.  While inorganic mercury was found in the blood of 2% of women in 1999, it was found in 30% of the women by 2006.  Another U.S. study, Mercury in Fish, Bed Sediment, and Water from Streams Across the United States, 1998–2005, found mercury in all the sampled fish, with 27% exceeding levels safe for human consumption.  A third study indicates that mercury levels in fish were elevated in pristine forested or woody-wetlands in the eastern and southeastern U.S.  Duke University environmental engineers explain this phenomenon in a study of their own: How Mercury Becomes Toxic in the Environment.

Recent analysis of ocean water samples across the Pacific point to Asian coal plants as the likely source of dramatic increases total mercury levels in the North Pacific Ocean over the last 20 years.  If present trends continue, the U.S. Geological Survey report  projects a doubling of oceanic mercury concentrations by the year 2050.  Oceanic mercury is converted to MethylMercury by algae, and then bioaccumulates up the food chain as algae is eaten by fish.  Fish harvested from the Pacific Ocean are a major contributor to human MethylMercury exposure, which is why scientists are focusing on the important health and ecological concern of the source of the oceanic mercury.  For more inforamtion see highlights on the USGS website.

Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a draft “Quantitative Risk and Benefit Assessment of Commercial Fish Consumption,” for public comment. Attention to the unscientifc nature of the FDA’s assessment was contained in a letter to the FDA  submitted by MPP and 10 other public interest groups and experts in the field.

MPP also submitted lengthy Technical Comments on the FDA draft. MPP’s comments were prepared by its consultant, Dr. Edward Groth, who worked as a senior scientist for Consumers Union for nearly 25 years on environmental health, food safety and risk communication. Dr. Groth emphasized, “While FDA’s analysis suggests that the benefits outweigh the risks for the average person, that point is misleading. The focus instead should be on ways to ensure benefits while minimizing risks—a “win/win” solution—by educating consumers to choose low-mercury fish.”  Using data from the FDA’s own analysis, MPP’s comments show that tuna fish alone accounts for 37 percent of all the mercury in the American diet, and about 20 other varieties of fish and shellfish are also relatively high in mercury. But there is plenty of good news: Two-thirds of the total market for fish and shellfish is low in mercury, and 9 of the 11 top-selling items are low-mercury choices.

Today, a parent of a mercury-poisoning victim joined a medical doctor and an advocacy group in refuting the FDA’s new proposal to stop warning pregnant women and children about mercury in fish.  In 2004, the FDA joined EPA in releasing advice to restrict the species and amounts of fish eaten by women of childbearing age and children due to exposure risks to mercury.  On Friday, in a draft report submitted to the Bush White House, the FDA indicated that they were planning not only to rescind that advice, but recommend that sensitive populations eat more mercury-contaminated fish.

“Talk about getting hooked on fish stories,” said Michael Bender, MPP, Director of the Mercury Policy Project, which just released a new case study exposure report. “FDA has really gone overboard this time by casting out the science and reeling in the industry ‘line’ instead,” Bender said, referring to an industry report released prior to the FDA report that reached strikingly similar conclusions.  “Real people have been sickened by mercury in fish, demonstrating the importance of strong FDA advice on mercury in fish.” The new MPP report, Over the Limit, shares stories of  people who each ate enough store-bought fish to suffer mercury’s effects, according to their physicians.  From New Jersey to Wisconsin to California, these stories show that seafood contamination is a very real problem that should not be ignored.

Shoppers and diners can use any cell phone web browser to enter their weight and fish choice to estimate low, moderate or high level dose of mercury based on U. S. government guidelines. The cell phone calculator compliments the GotMercury.Org web version. Fish consumption is the primary source of mercury exposure in the United States. In addition, AJR 57, introduced into the California legislature by Rep.Huffman on mercury-contaminated seafood passed this year and urges the federal Food and Drug Administration to take responsibility for, and take actions to reduce, the public’s exposure to mercury in seafood by taking specified actions.