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Zeida Santana is afraid to feed her boys fish for dinner. The government put out warnings that fish contaminated with mercury is dangerous to young children and pregnant women.

Bush Administration Policy Delays Clean Up Of Powerful Poison

Zeida Santana is a resident of St. Petersburg, Florida and works at a local pediatric hospital. As a biologist, she worries about what she feeds her two young sons, who are one and three years old. On the news lately, Zeida's heard that it isn't safe to eat some fish because of the levels of mercury and other toxics found in them.

"I am afraid to feed my children any seafood at all. I never feed them fish," said Zeida. And her fears are founded. Florida is one of 45 states and territories that warn residents not to eat certain species of fish caught in many of its lakes, rivers, and streams due to unsafe levels of mercury.1

Coal-fired power plants, which release 48 tons of mercury each year, are the largest source of mercury in the US.2 Mercury emitted into the air falls with the rain into our waterways where it enters the food chain after being absorbed by fish, which are dangerous to people who eat them. Mercury is a poison that delays mental development, increases learning disabilities, and creates deficits in language, motor function, attention, and memory.

Young children like Zeida's kids, pregnant women, and women of childbearing age are most at risk from mercury. And recent EPA estimates indicate that one in six women in the US of childbearing age has mercury levels in her blood high enough to put her baby at risk. That means over 630,000 newborns are at risk each year.3

So it made sense that on December 10, 2003, and again this March, 2004, the Bush administration warned Americans to limit the amount of fish we eat and feed our kids. What didn't make sense was that five days later the administration announced plans to give power plants permission to shower more toxic mercury into our lakes and streams, permitting three times more mercury pollution, for at least a decade longer, than the Clean Air Act currently allows.

There is a better way. Strong enforcement of the Clean Air Act could reduce mercury emissions to five tons per year by 2008, a 90 percent reduction from current levels.4

The Bush administration proposal leaves families like Zeida's at risk from mercury pollution. A speedy reduction of mercury emissions from each power plant in the state must be mandated. The administration must enforce the law, hold polluters accountable, and require them to use today's technology to protect our health and safety.

"When I came here from Cuba I thought a rich country like this would protect the environment. I can't believe that it doesn't," said Zeida.

For more information contact:

Sierra Club
Amanda Ransone
amanda.ransone@sierraclub.org
727.824.8813

1. "Update: National Listing of Fish and Wildlife Advisories," US EPA Fact Sheet, EPA-823-F-02-007, May 2003.
2. EPA Factsheet Basic Information, available at: http://www.epa.gov/air/clearskies/basic.html#emissions.
3. "Methylmercury: Epidemiology Update," US EPA, Presentation by Kathryn Mahaffey, PhD at the National Forum on Contaminants in Fish, San Diego, CA, January 25-28, 2004.
4. January 30, 2004 Federal Register, 40CFR Parts 60 and 63. Dec. 4 2001 presentation by EPA to the Edison Electric Institute.