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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
While 8% of Women Have Unsafe Mercury Levels, Bush's 'Pie-in-the-Sky'
Plan Allows More Pollution Than Existing Mandates, Say Over 100 Groups |
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WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, May. 7 -/E-Wire/--
On the eve of a US Senate Committee hearing on the President's so-called "Clear Skies" legislation, over 100 physician, health, environmental and consumer groups from across the US say they oppose the proposal because it would actually result in increases in mercury and other air pollutants, compared with existing mandates. The criticisms were leveled at Bush in a letter signed by organizations as diverse as the Mercury Policy Project, SC Coastal Conservation League and the Women's Health & Environmental Network to national organizations like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Sierra Club.
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The letter emphasized that "Nowhere would the weakening of existing law have potentially more devastating results than with respect to the threats posed by mercury to human health, fish as a protein source, and the future viability of the recreational and commercial fishing industries." The letter charges that "Clear Skies" would endanger pregnant women and their children by allowing increases in emissions of mercury, a toxic metal now found above federal "safe" levels in eight percent of women of childbearing age—translating to 300,000 children born each year at risk of mercury poisoning.
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In their letter, the groups stated that the Bush Administration's air pollution proposal is "a step backwards from current law." They accused the President of making "incomplete and thus misleading" claims for the so-called "Clear Skies Initiative," citing his claim in the State of the Union that it "mandates a 70-percent cut in air pollution from power plants over the next 15 years."
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Under current law, by year's end the Administration must issue rules requiring mercury emissions at individual old and new coal-fired power plants, the largest aggregate source of the heavy metal, to be cut by up to 90 percent. Yet the letter explains that "Clear Skies would delay the start of mercury reductions until 2010, postpone full implementation until 2018, and achieve reductions that would be only a fraction of those that would be produced by current law."
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A constituent of coal, mercury is released through smoke stacks then works its way up the food chain into the flesh large predators like shark, swordfish and tuna, and can cause brain damage, impaired coordination, blurred vision, tremors, irritability and memory loss, behavioral problems and loss of intelligence, and cardiovascular disease. The Food and Drug Administration and 44 states warn consumers to limit intake of fish — or avoid eating them altogether — because of mercury levels.
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To see letter: http://www.mercurypolicy.org/new/documents/PresBushLetter050703.pdf
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