Charlotte Observer
6.14.06
Mercury is poisoning NC
State should require coal-fired power plants to clean up emissions
Guest opinion by SELC's John Suttles
The acute hazards of direct exposure to mercury grabbed national headlines May 25 when schoolchildren in Durham became ill after inhaling small amounts of the hazardous metal. Though direct exposure to mercury can prove serious, a state toxicologist noted that the good thing about this case is "it was a brief exposure." As a result, the state official "wouldn't expect any lingering long-term effects here."
Also on May 25, North Carolina opened a process to decide how to deal with a different and more insidious kind of mercury exposure for most of us - chronic exposure to mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants.
The Durham children quickly developed obvious symptoms after inhaling small amounts of mercury vapor, but in a couple of months levels in the body should return to normal.
Chronic exposure to mercury emitted into the air by coal-fired power plants is different. People are exposed to power-plant mercury pollution by eating contaminated fish. Mercury emitted as air pollution from power plants eventually deposits in waterways where bacteria convert it to methyl mercury - an especially toxic form of mercury that accumulates in fish, people and wildlife.
In our state the risk of this type of exposure to mercury is serious. Recently, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services extended a mercury advisory to cover 22 fresh water and marine fish species. For the first time, officials issued a statewide advisory for largemouth bass and for Spanish mackerel caught in N.C. coastal waters. The warning advises women of child-bearing age, pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children not to eat any of the 22 fish species with high mercury levels and limited the amount of these fish others can safely eat.
These fish advisories alone don't protect people from mercury exposure. The N.C. Department of Public Health estimates that 13,677 children are born each year in this state with blood mercury levels above recommended levels. And unlike the hopefully short-term injuries experienced by the Durham schoolchildren, fetuses and young children exposed to methyl mercury may suffer serious permanent damage to their developing brains and central nervous systems.
Chronic exposure to even low levels of methyl mercury places a child at risk. Children exposed to methyl mercury in the womb from fish consumption by the mother appeared normal during infancy, but later displayed neurological deficits such as poor performance on tests of attention, fine motor function, language, visual- spatial abilities (e.g., drawing) and memory.
The solution to our mercury problem is not simply to add fish to the list of species we cannot safely eat. We must eliminate the problem at its source.
Coal-fired power plants are the largest sources of mercury pollution in North Carolina. Last year, power plants in our state emitted 2,909 pounds of mercury pollution into the air. A recent EPA study found that about 70 percent of the mercury emitted from coal-fired sources - predominantly power plants - deposits nearby. Most of this mercury pollution winds up in our waters, our fish and, ultimately, in us.
As a physician assisting in investigating the Durham incident noted, "if you remove the source of the contamination, those kids should show improvement." The same holds true for mercury exposure from power plants. EPA has found with modern technologies we can reduce power plant mercury emissions by 90 percent or more at a price that would cost the average residential consumer less than $10 per year. At least six states have passed laws requiring power plants to cut mercury pollution by 85-95 percent within several years. Our state should require nothing less to protect its children.
