Letter: Tougher mercury standards needed

Wednesday, June 9, 2004 | 9:10 a.m.

At a time when beauty is defined by body type, faddish diets continue to sweep the country. Whether it's Dr. Atkins or the South Beach Diet, many of these diets recommend fish as a good source of protein. One thing these diet gurus may not mention, however, is that this formerly healthy dish is too often seasoned with a very unhealthy dose of poisonous mercury.

That's because the Bush administration continues to allow coal-fired power plants in Nevada and around the country to emit extremely high levels of mercury into the air. Power plants in Nevada alone emitted more than 500 pounds of mercury into the air in 2001, contaminating many of the state's waterways. Because of this widespread contamination, a recent EPA analysis indicates that one in six women of childbearing age in the U.S. has levels of mercury in her blood that are unsafe for a developing fetus. This means that as many as 630,000 children are born in the United States each year with a heightened risk of developmental problems because of mercury exposure.

Now the Bush administration has proposed allowing six to seven times more mercury into the air every year for the next decade. The Bush administration should protect public health and the environment by setting tough mercury standards, and by not letting President Bush's campaign contributors in the coal and power plant industries rewrite our clean air laws to avoid cleaning up their mercury pollution.

HEATHER LIBERMAN

Editor's note: Heather Liberman, based in Washington, D.C., works in the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. She is the coordinator of a campaign to raise awareness about mercury levels in Nevada's waterways.