Mercury is a threat to your health

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can damage the central nervous system, especially in infants and young children. Developing fetuses exposed to mercury can suffer mental retardation, cerebral palsy, lower IQs, slow motor functions, deafness and blindness.

Human activities are leading to excessive and unnatural amounts of mercury in our environment. Recent studies indicate that as many as 10 percent of babies born each year in the United States are exposed to excessive mercury levels in the womb, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in early 2004 that more than one child in six could be at risk for developmental disorders because of mercury exposure in the mother's womb.

Mercury is released into the air mainly through smoke stacks and can travel long distances before falling to the ground during rain and snow events. Once it enters the water, mercury becomes toxic and remains in the environment, accumulating in the tissue of plants, insects, and animals, including fish.

Since mercury bio-accumulates up the food chain, many predator fish like salmon, catfish and trout may have mercury levels more than a millions times higher that the surrounding water. The situation is dire enough in Illinois that the state's Department of Public Health has issued a special mercury advisory which covers all lakes and rivers in Illinois, asking that pregnant and nursing women, women of child bearing age and children younger than 15 to limit themselves to no more than one meal per week of predator fish from Illinois' waters.

We can stop mercury from being released into the environment

Illinois has been successful during the last few years at reducing potential sources of mercury in our environment. New state laws have been created that ban sale and manufacture of mercury fever thermometers, forbid sale or distribution of most mercury-added thermostats, switches and relays found in many consumer products and prohibit schools from purchasing mercury for classroom use.

This year, we have had a big victory by passing the Mercury Switch Removal Act, which will remove up to 800 pounds of mercury a year in Illinois from automobiles before they are processed for scrap. The bill represents two years of negotiations between the automotive, recycling and steel industries and the environmental community. The comprehensive program that ensures a high capture rate and requires educational materials and assistance for removal and storage of the switches.

Still, we have a long way to go. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ranks Illinois fourth nationally for mercury pollution hot spots. Large sources of mercury in our air and water include municipal waste combustion and industrial sources. But the largest source of mercury is fossil-fueled power plants which burn mercury-containing materials such as coal: The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the state's coal-fired power plants emit 7,000 pounds of mercury into the air every year.

A new measure can make a big difference

In January, Governor Rod Blagojevich announced a proposal to set strict mercury emissions limits for coal-fired power plants, calling for a 90 percent reduction in emissions by June 2009. Each plant would have to reduce emissions by at least 75 percent, as long as the average reductions for a company's plants were 90 percent. By 2012 all plants would have to meet the 90 percent requirement.

Illinois would become only the fourth state in the country to implement such stringent standards, going well beyond the Bush Administration's mercury rules issued last year by U.S. EPA. The proposal has been presented to the Pollution Control Board for approval, and then will be reviewed by the legislature's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. It will likely take until October 2006 for the plan to receive all necessary approvals.