NYT: E.P.A. Says Mercury Taints Fish Across U.S.

[DeepModem Mom]

E.P.A. Says Mercury Taints Fish Across U.S.
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

Published: August 25, 2004


WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 - The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday that fish in virtually all of the nation's lakes and rivers were contaminated with mercury, a highly toxic metal that poses health risks for pregnant women and young children.

Michael O. Leavitt, the E.P.A. administrator, drew his conclusion from the agency's latest annual survey of fish advisories, which showed that 48 states - all but Wyoming and Alaska - issued warnings about mercury last year. That compared with 44 states in 1993, when the surveys were first conducted.

The latest survey also shows that 19 states, including New York, have now put all their lakes and rivers under a statewide advisory for fish consumption. But Mr. Leavitt said that the widespread presence of mercury reflected a surge in monitoring - not an increase in emissions - as part of growing state efforts to warn local anglers about the fish they are catching. Last year, states issued 3,094 advisories for toxic substances, compared with 1,233 in 1993....

***

The E.P.A. also provided a chart showing the level of mercury emission from human causes fell 45 percent in 1999 from 1990. The agency said that was the most recent data it had available. Mr. Leavitt promised to issue the nation's first regulations for mercury emissions "within a few months." The plan, with a deadline of March 15, 2005, has gained industry support because of the likelihood it will include a ''cap-and-trade program" that lets companies buy and sell credits that give them a pollution allowance, which would save them in cleanup costs....

***

But environmentalists, as well as President Bush's Democratic opponent, Senator John Kerry, have attacked the Bush administration's proposed standards as weak and unnecessarily drawn out. The administration has proposed reducing emissions 29 percent by 2010 and 69 percent by 2018....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/25/politics/25fish.html

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I don't mean to imply there's a LOT of Hg in them, but

around here the fish rise & fall in the water as the temperature varies.

[whistle]

2. Let see, when that started happening in Japan 50 years ago...

<snip>

Poisoning victims of Japan's mercury bay may be double previous estimates

Thursday, October 11, 2001
By Hans Greimel, Associated Press

TOKYO — Poisoning from Japan's infamous mercury bay may plague tens of thousands more people than previously acknowledged, according to fresh research slated for release next week.
The findings could increase pressure on the Japanese government to boost victim compensation as they refocus concern on an environmental catastrophe shadowing the country for nearly 50 years.

The government officially recognizes 2,265 victims — 1,435 already dead — of the industrial dumpings at southern Japan's Minamata Bay, where chemical maker Chisso Corp. had been pouring tons of mercury compounds since in the 1930s.

<more>
http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/10/10112001/ap_45234.asp

And our neighbors to the north:

<snip>

Mercury Rising: The Poisoning of Grassy Narrows

Between 1962 and 1970, natives in two northwest Ontario communities sat down to daily meals of poison. Their staple food — fish — had record-high levels of mercury from a chemical plant up the river. Debate still rages over just how sick the mercury has made the people of Grassy Narrows and Whitedog reserves. There is no doubt, however, that the lingering pollution was a disaster for the natives and the lodge owners who had employed them as fishing guides. Their source of food and jobs destroyed, the bands endured years of alcoholism and despair, government neglect and, finally, healing.

<more>

http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-70-1178/disasters_tragedies/grassy_narrows_mercury_pollution/

And who are the sources of mercury pollution, why George Bush's buddies in the chemical industry where antipollution laws have been gutted and rendered anemic for huge profit gains.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. You know JR, if that weren't so sad, it would be pretty damn funny!

[MichaelHarris]

3. and thats why I put um back safely

I love to keep the fish Gods happy.