One In Six American Women of Childbearing Age Has Serious Mercury Poisoning
Editorial Comment By Marc Choyt, Director, FJA USA
Mercury… No Longer Just In Tuna Sushi or The Veins and Drinking Water of Artisan Miners.
Often this publication has raised the issue of mercury poisoning and small scale gold miners. But mercury poisoning has become a global issue due to its release into the atmosphere from industrial processes.
Mercury is one of the most dangerous neuro-toxin known to humans. To be poisoned by this substance According to Wikipedia, “It damages the central nervous system, endocrine system, kidneys, and other organs, and adversely affects the mouth, gums, and teeth. Exposure over long periods of time or heavy exposure to mercury vapor can result in brain damage and ultimately death. Mercury and its compounds are particularly toxic to fetuses and infants.”
In an earlier post, I discussed my own personal experience with finding out how I was poisoned by mercury. I’m nine months into a process to clear this nasty sh-t out of my body. Children in Peru and other countries regularly bath in mercury water to produce gold for the jewelry. It is tragic absurdity that this type of poisoning to our ecosystems is actually just scratching the surface in context to worldwide mercury poisoning.
Now, we learn from Environment New Mexico that mercury poisoning is an equal opportunity polluter. The culprit for this global mercury poisoning is coal fired power plants. Mercury drenches our land in the form of rain, contaminating surface water. One in six American women of childbearing age has enough mercury in her body to put her child at risk of learning disabilities, developmental disorders, and a lower IQ if she becomes pregnant.
One would think that common sense would prevail, and elected politicians would do everything they can to deal with this issue. Isn’t the reduction of mercury poisoning something that transcends party lines? Apparently not.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), who infamously apologized to BP after last year’s deadly oil blowout, actually stated that toxic mercury, sulfur dioxide, or particulate air pollution do not have a “medical negative.”
“Now, to actually cause poisoning or a premature death you have to get a large concentration of mercury into the body. I’m not a medical doctor, but my hypothesis is that’s not going to happen! You’re not going to get enough mercury exposure or SO2 exposure or even particulate matter exposure! I think the EPA numbers are pulled out of the thin air!”
The anti-regulation US Congress is attempting to block the EPA from taking action on the mercury issue.
Are we not, as a species, like the proverbial frog in increasingly hot water, bombarded every day with the horrors of our environmental disasters, yet refusing to jump and speak out? In this case, take a leap before the water boils. Comment on this link to the EPA to help stop mercury poisoning.
http://www.webaction.org/site/R?i=D2w3d5LlxpMLcinFKo2l1g..
Should we reduce mercury coal fired plants by increasing our reliance on nuclear energy? Alas, poor frog… the heat is increasing!
One Native American friend of mine, Larry Littlebird, who is the executive of an indigenous learning center, pointed with irony to our current global situation, where information such as this continually is so common that it is difficult to feel the seriousness of it. The sort of economic and environmental distress is usually in parts of the world that are on the distant shores, from the suburbs. Yet the destruction of our life systems by pathological business interests has extended far and wide into every aspect of our society. With a deep sense of trauma and history inflected on indigenous people, he said, “We’re all becoming Indian now.”
Please note:
FJA is a forum open to a diversity of opinions in support of its mission. Any editorial expressed in this article represents the opinion of the author, and not necessarily the views of Fair Jewelry Action members.
