Calling mercury one of the biggest threats to Wisconsin mothers and their children, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin chose this week before Mothers' Day to introduce federal legislation to curb the amount of the dangerous neurotoxin present in common household objects and released into the environment.
"There's no better time than Mothers' Day to consider all that we hold precious in our lives.our parents.our children.and our hopes for their well-being," said Baldwin. "Exposure to mercury has been shown to create a host of health risks, especially for expectant mothers, and it's time for Congress to confront this serious problem head-on. This legislation is an important step in ensuring the water we drink, the food we eat, and the environment we live in are safe."
Baldwin unveiled details of her legislation in a press conference in Madison during which several area mothers (two physicians and one whose child attends Stoughton High School where a potentially dangerous mercury spill recently occurred) offered their own personal and professional perspectives.
John Reindl, manager of Dane County's Recycling Program, exhibited common household, business, and automotive products containing mercury such as: thermostats, thermometers, computers, auto switches, batteries, fluorescent lamps, and various cleaning products which are often discarded improperly.
The release of mercury from these products can have just as serious an impact as mercury emissions from power plants. For example, the amount of mercury contained in just one thermostat is enough to poison a 60-acre lake for one year.
Mercury is a highly potent, toxic metal that moves readily between air, water, and land and accumulates in the BODY tissues of people and wildlife. Studies have shown that exposure to mercury can damage the function of the central nervous system and impair reproduction; while high prenatal exposure can lead to cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and other developmental disabilities.
Last February, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report that doubled the estimated number of newborn children at risk for health problems because of unsafe mercury levels in their blood. The research showed that 630,000 newborns in the U.S. had unsafe levels of mercury in their blood in 1999-2000.
An element commonly found in school science labs, mercury spills in classrooms have become an all too familiar occurrence across the nation. In addition to elemental mercury, school laboratories often use mercury-containing devices such as thermometers, barometers and different types of pressure gauges. When mercury-specifically, metallic mercury-is released, it breaks apart into tiny beads and releases a vapor that can cause serious illness and possibly death.
Students and teachers at Stoughton's high school avoided serious injury recently when two liquid ounces of mercury leaked from a manometer and spilled onto the floor. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but this accident cost more than $75,000 to clean up.
Baldwin's bill entitled the Safe Communities and Safe Schools Mercury Reduction Act would:
- Encourage schools to remove mercury from their premises by making grants available to help them safely dispose and recycle the harmful element. The bill would also:
- Establish a Mercury Recycling and Reduction Grants Program for states, individuals, and organizations to help facilitate the safe disposal and recycling of mercury products.
- Ban the sale of mercury thermometers. Some states have already banned the sale of mercury thermometers; however they still contribute approximately 17 tons of mercury to solid waste each year. Wisconsin has not banned their sale, though some municipalities in the state have.
- And, finally, provide for the safe disposal of mercury dental amalgam. Dentists' offices discharge an estimated 50 tons of mercury each year. This bill will encourage dentists to use special filtration devices that can capture 90 percent or more of amalgam waste containing mercury. (more) Also speaking at the press conference were three mothers who expressed their personal and professional interest in the problem of mercury contamination and their support for Baldwin's bill.
Dr. Monica Vohmann, mother of a 6 year old daughter, family practice physician with obstetrics at Group Health Cooperative's Capitol Clinic, and member of Physicians for Social Responsiblility, stressed dangers to women and their children. "There are so many unknowns when it comes to mercury. While pregnant mothers may not feel any obvious effects from the mercury in their own bodies, the fetus they carry may suffer severe neurologic consequences. We need to do everything in our power to prevent unnecessary exposures and the proposed legislation is a great step in that direction," said Vohmann.
And Dr. Peggy Scallon, a clinical assistant professor in the UW Medical School and the mother of two children, ages 4 and 9, spoke from a clinical perspective. "Our initial understanding of the impacts of neurological toxins such as mercury has underestimated the potential for harm," said Scallon. "There is no safe level of exposure to mercury. Neurological and developmental disabilities are widespread, and environmental insults are important and preventable contributors to these conditions."
Wishing everyone a happy Mothers' Day, Baldwin concluded, "This bill won't solve all of our problems, certainly, but it's an important and achievable step in reducing the threat mercury poses to us, our environment, and all life that it sustains."
- Last February, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report that doubled the estimated of the number of newborn children at risk for health problems because of unsafe mercury levels in their blood. The research showed that 630,000 U.S. newborns had unsafe levels in their blood in 1999-2000.
- An estimate by the largest processor of mercury in the U.S., Bethlehem Apparatus Co, the estimated use of mercury in products in 2001 was put at 220 metric tons (approximately 240 short tons), including a breakdown of the following percentages:
Thermostats and electrical switches 30% Chlor-alkali production 23% Dental amalgam 22% Lighting 14% Instruments 11%
- For mercury emissions to the air from coal-burning power plants, a current estimate is about 48 short tons. Thus, in 2001, products used about 5 times as much mercury as was emitted to the air from coal-combustion at power plants.
- About 4 million electrical-mechanical thermostats with mercury are sold nationally each year. This prorates to about 6,000 mercury thermostats sold each year in Dane County alone - each containing about 3.5 - 4 grams of mercury in them.
- One mercury thermostat discarded in the trash has the potential to poison a 60-acre lake for one year.
- In 2003, 43 states issued mercury fish consumption advisories for one or more freshwater fish. Mercury is by far the most common pollutant triggering fish advisories. In fact, the number of mercury advisories has increased 138 percent from 1993 - 2000.
- In 2002, mercury advisories covered 12 million lake acres and 470,000 river miles - including all of Wisconsin's more than 15,000 lakes.
- A recent mercury spill at Stoughton High School caused the evacuation of more than 300 students and cost over $75,000 to clean up. Wisconsin has had mercury spills in schools in Fond du Lac, Green Bay, and Peshtigo - the Green Bay spill is costing more than $250,000 to clean up and sent several children to the hospital for monitoring. Another spill at Ballou High School in Washington, DC this past October forced officials to test more than 100 homes where students or staff could have tracked mercury while roughly 1,300 students were forced to take classes at other locations for several weeks. The cost of the clean-up efforts has cost more than one million dollars.
