Mercury...it's what's for dinner.

Bioaccumulation is the word of the day, which is a “[g]eneral term describing a process by which chemicals are taken up by an organism either directly from exposure to a contaminated medium or by consumption of food containing the chemical.” (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2010). Quite simply, as humans, we are consuming all of the mercury that has been consumed from the food chain below us. For example, a little fish ingests mercury contaminated plankton, while a bigger fish consumes the mercury contaminated smaller fish, and so on and so forth until we ingest the final product which has been exposed to the toxic substance for its entire lifetime.

A recent study conducted at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio examined Texas school district data and industrial mercury-release data. The study revealed a “statistically significant link between pounds of industrial release of mercury and increased autism rates.” It also showed, for the first time in scientific literature, a relevant association between autism risk and the distance of those affected from the mercury polluting source.

Right about now, you are probably wondering how this toxic substance is entering our food chain in the first place. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), there are several known sources of mercury contributors to our environment, both naturally present and those created by man. Natural sources include volcanoes, natural mercury deposits, and volatilization from the ocean, with the primary human-related sources being: coal combustion, chlorine alkali processing, waste incineration, and metal processing. The USGS notes that the “[b]est estimates to date suggest that human activities have about doubled or tripled the amount of mercury in the atmosphere, and the atmospheric burden is increasing by about 1.5 percent per year.” It is unimaginable to think that we are knowingly and intentionally poisoning ourselves. As you drive along during your commute, or even look out of your home into your own backyard, do you see a potential polluter to your water or seafood supply?

Finally, you may be trying to figure out what can, or is, being done about this problem. Well, the Federal Government has set acceptable mercury levels for water, fish and shellfish, and grain. It is up to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate such mercury emissions under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, with State governments also establishing regulations to control mercury emissions. This begs the question of why we are still seeing fish being contaminated to the point that the EPA felt the need to issue “Your Guide to Eating Fish Caught in Florida” (found here: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/floridafishadvice/Final%202009%20Fish%20Brochure.pdf) as recently as 2009.

If mercury emission is being regulated to the degree necessary to preserve the public health, then should there even be a need to publish such materials? Is enough being done? What will you be having for dinner?

-Timothy Nalepka, Legal Intern