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Envirohealth News: Mercury-free fish may be in our future
Your environmental health news crib sheet.
Something smells.There's "a veritable cocktail of dangerous and potentially dangerous volatile organic compounds" in your air fresheners, and a group of environmental organizations want the government to do something about it.
Mystery at Upper Mystic Lake. There are ten tons of arsenic and undetermined amounts of lead and cadmium in Upper Mystic Lake. Too bad no one got around to telling the beachgoers, picnickers and fishermen.
Power to the people FDA. Congress is in the process of passing legislation that would help the FDA protect the nation's pharmaceutical drug supply. Knowing that our prescription drugs will be more thoroughly examined? Sounds like power to the people after all.
"Natural" is only skin deep, too. Organic and natural cosmetics are booming these days, but does "natural" mean safe? One cosmetics retailer points out that "there are some interesting and legitimate sources of impartial ingredient information" on the internet. Anyone know of any?
Good news department.Researchers think that making mercury-loaded fish safe to eat again might be as simple as -- wait for it -- stopping mercury pollution. Fish apparently recover quickly from mercury contamination, but getting industry to stop contaminating is another problem entirely.
Very interesting.
A major producer of mercury emissions is chlorine plants. Chlorine plants have been using mercury in their production for well over 100 years in the United States. Much of this mercury escapes through “fugitive emissions” – and then on top of that, many chlorine plants have unaccounted for mercury losses that make their way into the environment.
However, there is a solution. Newer membrane cell technology eliminates the need for mercury use in chlorine plants. Already 90% of the industry uses this technology, and there are ongoing campaigns to make chlorine production completely mercury-free. To learn more about this campaign check out the
Oceana website.
Melissa, thanks for pointing that out! We're really impressed with Oceana's work around these parts.