Mercury Policy Project Testifies at NY Hearing on Mercury

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.

New Studies Show Mercury in All Fish, Levels Rising in U.S. Women

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.

GM Backs Away from Responsibility to Recover Mercury from Scrapped Vehicles

Just as the Cash for Clunkers program is dumping hundreds of thousands of vehicles on auto recyclers, the “new” GM announced they are not obligated to honor industry-wide recycling measures to capture mercury from old auto switches. Environmental groups demand that GM fulfill its responsibility. “GM should not be hiding behind a bankruptcy proceeding as an excuse for not meeting its on-going obligation to fund a vital program for keeping mercury out of the environment,” said Charles Griffith, Director of the Ecology Center’s Clean Car Campaign.

As GM was the largest user of mercury auto switches, state-mandated recycling programs are unable to absorb the cost of recycling GM parts.  Compounding the problem, automotive recyclers will no longer receive a bounty from GM to remove the mercury switches from GM cars, increasing the likelihood that the mercury will be dumped into the environment. The Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) also expressed their concern that GM is opting out of their commitment. For more information, see MPP and Ecology Center’s press release and The End of Life Vehicle Solutions Corporation (ELVS) response to GM’s announcement.

Maine Law Requires Lamp Makers to Pay for Recycling

Today, the Natural Resources Counsel of Maine (NRCM), the Green Lighting Campaign, and the Multi-State Mercury Products Campaign celebrate the passage of LD 973, “An Act to Provide for the Safe Collection and Recycling of Mercury-Containing Light Bulbs.”  Passage of this “model” lamp legislation, which requires bulb manufacturers to share the costs and responsibility of recycling mercury-containing light bulbs, sets a precedent that the Multi-State Mercury Products Campaign intends to press for other states to follow. “Final passage of the lamps legislation will send a clear message out nationally (and globally) that a new day is dawning for total life cycle management and shared responsibility– from ‘the cradle to the grave’ for products containing mercury and other hazardous substances,” said MPP Director Bender in a statement.  For additional information, see the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators website.

EPA Asked to Set New Mercury Reduction Standards for the Dental Industry

MPP sent the attached letter from numerous national and state environmental, health and consumer groups to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on the EPA-ADA dental mercury Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  In the letter, groups urge Jackson to consider terminating the MOU–which was adopted during the waning days of the Bush Administration–in favor of national goal-based mercury reduction standards for the U.S. dental industry.  The letter notes that EPA has had a history under the previous Administration of ignoring the significant discharge of mercury by the dental community and that Congressional hearings have failed to elicit sufficient recognition of the dental mercury problem or steps necessary to remedy them by the Agency (see government reports from 2008 and 2007.)  In fact, information provided by MPP to Congress clearly indicates that dental mercury releases are far greater than previously thought.

While Congress had asked the prior EPA Administrator for a response to the findings of the Congressional hearings, the Agency thus far to our knowledge has not adequately responded or clearly recognized the significance of the Congressional findings.

MPP and Green Lighting Campaign Submit Comments to DOE

Today, the Green Lighting Campaign along with others submitted comments in response to the DOE’s proposed Energy Conservation Standards for General Service Fluorescent Lamps and Incandescent Reflector Lamps.

We are concerned that this proposed rule will allow a significant amount of outdated lighting equipment to continue to be sold in the US marketplace even though more energy-efficient, cost-effective replacements are readily available.  At a minimum, according to our comments, the DOE should adopt lighting-efficiency standards at least as stringent and broad in scope as those adopted under the European Union’s Eco-Design Standards for Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive.

Failure to do so will place the US further behind on demonstrated leadership regarding climate change and other related environmental policy issues,” said  Alicia Culver of the Green Purchasing Institute and Co-Coordinatorof the Green Lighting Campaign.  “Moreover, adoption of the current proposal will run the risk of turning the US into a dumping ground for inferior lighting products that do not meet the EU’s stronger energy-efficiency requirements.”

Asian Coal Plants Linked to 30% Increase in Pacific Ocean Water Mercury Levels

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.

MPP Submits Comments on FDA’s Flawed Fish Consumption Risk-Benefit Assessment

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.

MPP and Allies Urge President Obama to Support Treaty to Reduce Mercury Exposure

At a meeting this morning with the Department of State, MPP and other representatives of various groups urged the United States Government to support a legally binding treaty to reduce mercury exposure next week at a UNEP Governing Council meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.  The groups plan on distributing a letter signed  by 50 U.S.-based groups and another 40 abroad urging President Barack Obama (and copied to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, CEQ Director Nancy Sutley and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson) to support a global mercury treaty.  “The upcoming United Nations meeting will provide the Obama administration with its first opportunity on the world stage to demonstrate a real change in the U.S. approach to international environmental issues,” said Michael Bender, MPP director (see press release). “We strongly recommend an approach that embraces cooperation and leadership, rather than the obstruction and inaction we have seen from the previous administration.”

New Report Shows Need for Strong FDA Advice on Mercury in Fish

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.