Enrique Gili is a freelance writer covering Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (One-quarter of adult New Yorkers, roughly 1.4 million people, have elevated levels of mercury in their blood, mainly from eating certain fish, according to survey results released yesterday by the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The elevated mercury levels that were found pose little, if any, health risk for adults, but may increase the risk of neurological damage in fetuses and infants whose mothers pass on the mercury through their bloodstreams during pregnancy or through breast milk. ( New York Times)
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Comments
I'll be sure to keep that in mind when my Mrs. gets pregnant! We love sushi!
Posted by: Will | July 24, 2007 09:51 PM
I think what this leads to is the question, how the hell is the mercury getting in the fish we're eating? And what are we doing about it?
Posted by: Webs | July 25, 2007 01:57 PM
There are both natural and anthropogenic sources of mercury emissions. Some anthropogenic emissions include coal burning, cremation and chlorine production.
Some industrial processes such as chlorine production using mercury are being phased out or improved to reduce mercury emissions. Control of mercury emissions from coal fired power plants is currently a regulatory in the USA. What goes up eventually ends up in lakes and the ocean where it is accumulated by fish, particulary large carnivorous fish like blue fin tuna and swordfish.
Mercury in fish is not a new issue, there have been "scares" periodically for at least the past 40 years and restrictions on fish from various lakes, etc.
Posted by: Bob Kawaratani | July 29, 2007 11:10 AM