Letter: Nevada needs to know about mercury toxins

Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

It surprises me that the Nevada environmental protection division is taking such a wait-and-see attitude about two years of reports showing very high concentrations of airborne mercury near mines in Northern Nevada.

According to Lisa Mascaro's Feb. 14 article in the Las Vegas Sun, mercury is extremely toxic and can cause memory loss, tremors and other neurological damage. Women who are exposed can pass the toxin to a developing fetus, causing brain damage in the child.

Making the workplace and the general area around a business safe is a cost of doing business and should be included in a proper business plan. Professor Glenn C. Miller of UNR has shown that testing can be done cheaply. It is amazing that given that information the Nevada Mining Association took the position that Miller's test couldn't be accurate because it was done so cheaply.

At a pollution-reporting rate of once a year, as Mascaro advises is now the state requirement, it will likely take many years to compile a convincing case of whether the mines are the pollution source. Will this time period be about equal to the processing time for the remaining available gold ore at these mines? This situation is dangerous to our public health and to that of our neighboring states.

We cannot wait years to understand the extent of the problem. We must insist on quicker and more comprehensive testing and analyses, and a determination of what needs to be done before potentially responsible parties disappear and possibly people are hurt.

If the mines are not responsible, we also need to know that so we can search out the real source and extent of the pollutant to protect the health of people and wildlife.

Charles Parrish, Las Vegas