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“There’s Something Fishy about Mercury…”

Mercury Pollution Threatens Children’s Health!

Why was the Mad Hatter of Alice in Wonderland mentally “unhinged”?
Why has the Washington State Department of Health issued a state health advisory warning against feeding certain kinds of fish to children?
Why did more than 3,000 thousand Japanese children, adults, and animals living around Minamata Bay in the 1930s-60s suffer severe nervous system impairments, brain damage, and even death?
The answer is undisputed : MERCURY POISONING

Where is mercury found?

Mercury is used in a wide variety of products, as well as medical and industrial processes, including:

• Vaccines
• Amalgam dental fillings (50%mercury, 35%silver, 13-9% tin, 6-2% copper)
• Thermometers
• Thermostats
• Barometers
• Fluorescent light tubes
• Alkaline batteries
• Automobile light switches
• Released by the burning of fossil fuels, coal-fired power plants, lead smelters, and chlorine producers
• Used in the paint, pesticide, gold mining, and electrical industries

Mercury is released when these items are incinerated in solid-waste incinerators, thrown away in landfills, or break down during everyday use. Mercury is also released directly by polluting industries into our air, water, and land. According to the Washington state Department of Ecology, between 1987 and 2000, more than 21,000 pounds of mercury and mercury compounds were released directly into Washington’s air, land, and water by polluting industries.

This is a staggering amount when one considers that it takes only .002 pounds of mercury, or just a couple of drops, to contaminate a 25-acre lake to the point where the fish are unsafe to eat.¹

Children are particularly impacted by exposure to mercury

Children’s small bodies are more vulnerable to toxic exposures than adults are. Their young systems are still developing, and they consume more air, water, and food than adults do in proportion to their body weight. If exposed during fetal development or early childhood, mercury can cause central nervous system changes that can seriously affect a child’s ability to learn.

The ‘Mad Hatter Syndrome’ is still a concern

For most of us, the term ‘mad as a hatter’ brings to mind a silly character in Lewis Carrol’s classic 1865 book, Alice in Wonderland. However, the character’s condition is a real one: acute mercury poisoning (common to the hat-making industry of the 19th century was the use of a mercury solution for turning fur into felt, causing the hatters to inhale mercury vapor). Symptoms of mercury exposure include: visual impairment, learning disabilities, attention deficit, memory impairment, trembling, loss of coordination, slurred speech, depression, irritability, and anxiety. Fetal mercury exposure to higher levels of mercury has even been linked to autism, mental retardation, and smaller brain size.²

Government Regulators are Concerned about Mercury

• In a March, 2002 report, the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) identifies mercury as “the most prevalent Persistent, Bioaccumulative Toxin (PBT) in Washington.”
• During the Spring of 2001 the State Department of Health (DOH) issued a fish-consumption advisory for women of childbearing age and children under age six, due to high levels of mercury in certain breeds of carnivorous fish, such as shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackeral, and tuna.

• Replace mercury thermometers with digital ones. When a mercury thermometer breaks and is exposed to the air, the mercury instantly begins releasing a toxic vapor which your children can inhale.
• Never handle, sweep, or vacuum spilled mercury. If a mercury-filled thermometer breaks, pick the mercury up with an eye-dropper or tape, put it in an airtight container, and take it to your hazardous waste drop-off site. If you or your child finds a container of liquid mercury, call your poison control center.
• Feed a 60-pound child no more than three ounces (half of a can) of tuna per week, and a 20-pound child no more than 1 ounce per week. A 140-pound woman of childbearing age should eat no more than 6 ounces per week. A 1999 study by the Health Care Without Harm Coalition found that all 27 samples of major brands of tuna, fish sticks and shrimp tested contained mercury. Tuna had the highest amount, at 0.167 parts per million on average. At this level, a four-year-old child would exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s “safe” dose by eating one can of tuna per week. Breeds of fish to watch out for include shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackeral, and tuna.
• Dispose safely of products containing mercury. Take old fluorescent light tubes, cans of paint, pesticides, thermometers, and batteries to a hazardous waste drop-off center.
• Manufacturers have voluntarily agreed to stop adding mercury to paint, but haven’t recalled any mercury-containing paint. To find out whether a latex paint is mercury-free, call the National Pesticide Telecommunications Center, (800) 858-7358.