http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/szwarc_miller200503230800.asp
....Moreover, there is no proof that the amount of methylmercury in fish
Americans eat is dangerous. Despite advisories from the government for
pregnant women and children to limit consumption of fish to prevent
damage to children's developing nervous systems, the only cases in the
scientific literature of mercury poisoning and subsequent neurological
problems from fish were due to an industrial mercury spill in Japan in
the 1950s. They resulted in methylmercury levels in fish 40 to 1,000
times higher than those consumed by Americans...
....The EPA's safety margins are the most restrictive in the world and
conflict with those adopted by other U.S. agencies, as well as other
agencies around the world. Even so, tests by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention found no American women or child had unsafe
levels of mercury in their blood or hair.
These facts haven't stopped the pursuit of hugely expensive regulations
to limit mercury emissions, which, according to estimates, will actually
reduce average methylmercury levels in our fish by no more than 1.7
parts per billion. A careful analysis published this month by the AEI-
Brookings Joint Center found that "complete elimination of U.S. power-
plant [mercury] emissions would result in a decrease in mean maternal-
blood mercury levels of 0.13 parts per billion."...
--
Fred Stone
aa# 1369
"You know you're over the target when you start receiving flak."
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