Mercury Policy Project

Mercury Products Campaign’s report Turning Up the Heat exposes the dismal results of the manufacturers’ voluntary mercury thermostat collection program (TRC).  TRC has collected less than 5% of the approximately 100 tons of mercury from mercury thermostats removed from service.  The report recommends that states step in and adopt strong laws, with financial incentives and performance standards for recycling mercury thermostats, to drastically improve the TRC program and prevent mercury pollution.

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.

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.

A joint scientific effort by the National Environmental Research Institute in Denmark, the Geological Survey of Canada, and Environment Canada, answers the question of how much mercury concentrations in the Arctic is natural and how much is man-made.  Through the tests of Arctic marine wildlife teeth, hair and feathers, and comparisons with historical samples, they found that mercury levels rose in the mid-19th century and accelerated in the 20th century. The sharp increase corresponds to the industrial revolution.  Although there is no major mercury source in the region, mercury pollution is brought to the area through the atmosphere, ocean currents, and rivers. The study found that the average man-made contribution to  current mercury concentrations is 92.4%.  The significant increase in mercury concentrations in marine foodwebs in the Arctic have reached dangerous levels where negative biological consequences are expected.  People living in these areas and eating at the top of this food chain may see neurological development disorders in their children.

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.

The Garfield Foundation conducted an assessment of its Mercury Source Reduction (MSR) program, including MPP activities, in order to assess the impact of GF’s MSR work in the international arena.  The report proclaims success: “Scarcely five years later, there is virtually no important aspect of global mercury policy that has not been shaped or influenced by key NGOs… these NGOs have achieved results even beyond their own expectations.”

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.

As the world’s governments convene next week to discuss developing  a legally binding treaty on mercury, over twenty groups from around the world have co-released a new MPP report calling attention to the global human health hazards caused by  mercury  in fish and fish-eating marine mammals. The study, released by the international Zero Mercury Working Group, indicates that the health impacts of methylmercury in fish and fish-eating marine mammals are substantial, and demand an effective response from governments and the United Nations.  “Mercury contamination of fish and mammals is a global public health concern,” said MPP Director Bender. “Our study of fish tested in different locations around the world shows that widely accepted international exposure levels for methylmercury are exceeded, often by wide margins, in each country and area covered.”

According to the report, “Mercury in Fish: An Urgent Global Health Concern” (11MB), the risk is greatest for populations whose per capita fish consumption is high, and in areas where pollution has elevated the average mercury content of fish. But methylmercury hazards also exist where per capita fish consumption and average mercury levels in fish are comparatively low. In cultures where fish-eating marine mammals are part of the traditional diet, mercury in these animals can add substantially to total dietary exposure. For additional information, see www.zeromercury.org.

A new international study released today by MPP, Zero Mercury Working Group, GAIA and Ban Toxics! shows how the burning of mercury-containing products is increasing the risk of environmental and health impacts around the world. The new study states that incineration and burning send upwards of 200 tons of mercury into the atmosphere every year, comprising 10 percent of the mercury that enters the earth’s atmosphere through human activities.  “Based on this report’s findings, we must recognize that the amount of mercury released into the atmosphere through incineration and burning is much more significant than previously suspected, representing at least twice the emissions as previously thought,” said Michael Bender, MPP Director

The study, entitled “Mercury Rising: Reducing Global Emissions from Burning Mercury-Added Products,” underscores the harmful environmental and health impacts posed by incineration or burning of mercury-added products (such as discarded fluorescent light bulbs, thermostats, switches and thermometers) in incinerators, landfill fires and open burning of domestic waste is a significant contributor of mercury and other toxics to both local and global mercury pool.

The report recommends that, at the upcoming February meeting in Nairobi, of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the purpose of negotiating a free-standing legally binding instrument on mercury.In the interim period before such an instrument becomes effective, the report recommends to UNEP to take the following action:

• Assume responsibility for the awareness-raising, analytical, technical and legal support activities necessary to encourage manufacturers of mercury-added products, and countries where such manufacturers are located, to identify and implement the actions.
• Recognize that combustion of mercury-added products in incinerators, landfill fires and open burning of domestic waste is a significant contributor of mercury and other toxics in both local and global ecosystems, and urge countries to take steps to stop these practices and move towards safe, just, sustainable and more environmentally-sound alternatives