Why Mercury is a Problem
The Health Effects
Mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal that affects the central nervous system a lot like lead does. A child can be exposed when mercury crosses the placenta, when mercury is in their mother's breast milk, and when fish they eat is contaminated with mercury. While the most harmful effects happen in the early stages of development, a child's exposure is important up to age 16, because the brain continues to develop.
Even low levels of mercury exposure in utero or during early childhood can wreak havoc on a child’s still-developing brain — too often resulting in tragic, preventable problems. Mercury poisoning can cause poor attention span and language development, impaired memory and vision, difficulty processing information, and impaired fine motor coordination. Every year over 630,000 babies in the United States are born exposed to unsafe levels of mercury. (2)
Mercury is Contaminating New York's Waters.
Mercury pollution, largely from power plants, is deposited in bodies of water and converted into another mercury compound, which builds up in larger fish that we eat such as bass, swordfish, perch, tuna, walleye and trout.
The state continues to warn against eating fish in more and more of New York's waters. In 1996, the state Department of Health advised people to limit their consumption of certain fish populations in 15 waters across the state due to mercury contamination.(3)
One decade later, the state Department of Health now warns women (18-49 years old) and children against eating most fish caught in the Adirondacks and Catskills, and advises everyone to significantly limit consumption of specific fish populations from 87 water bodies across the state because of mercury contamination. (4)
The Economic Effects
Alongside the anguish of watching our children struggle to triumph over an impaired ability to walk, talk and learn, there are also costs borne by everyone. According to the Learning Disabilities Association of America, the cost of special education from 1999 to 2000 represented 21%, or $77.3 billion, of elementary schools' budgets. More specifically, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Center for Children’s Health and the Environment found that mental retardation from mercury poisoning costs our nation billions of dollars each year. (5)
In addition to the very real public health impacts, limiting where New Yorkers and tourists can safely catch and eat fish will also hurt New York's $1 billion recreational fishing industry. (6)
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