Is Mercury the New Exploding Gas Tank?
by Lisa Martinovic The most chilling aspect of the debate swirling around the EPA’s new rules on airborne mercury is what’s not being debated. The dispute erupted when The Washington Post revealed that the EPA buried the results of a Harvard University study it had commissioned. The study sought to determine the public-health benefits likely to result from a reduction in the levels of mercury emitted by coal-fired power plants. Mercury is a persistent neurotoxin that causes brain and nerve damage as well as behavioral changes. Released into the atmosphere, it accumulates in rivers, lakes and oceans, concentrating in the fish we then eat. According to the National Academy of Sciences, at least 60,000 newborns each year could be at risk for learning and developmental problems as a result of mercury exposure in utero. The Harvard team, working with an EPA scientist, calculated that the stringent regulation of mercury emissions would generate health savings 100 times greater than what the
