March of Dimes Urges EPA to Cut Mercury Emissions

Mercury Contamination Continues to Be a Serious Health Hazard to Pregnant Women and Babies

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., APRIL 15, 2004 – The March of Dimes is urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw its current proposal on mercury emissions from coal-powered utility units and replace it with a more stringent set of guidelines to be implemented as quickly as possible.  Industrial mercury is a major source of environmental mercury contamination that the March of Dimes says seriously threatens the health of America's mothers and babies.

Mercury, especially in the form of methylmercury, is of special concern to the March of Dimes because it is a powerful developmental toxin. At high ingested doses, it can disrupt organization of nerve cells in the brain before and after birth, leading to severe mental retardation, blindness, deafness, and chronic seizure disorders. Chronic, moderate to low-level methylmercury exposure before birth is associated with developmental delays and decreases in attention, memory, intelligence, language ability, and motor skills.

It is alarming that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 8 percent of American women of childbearing age are exposed to mercury at levels above the EPA's Reference Dose that is deemed safe for a human fetus.  EPA's own analysis of the data suggests that as many as 630,000 babies born each year are exposed to unsafe levels of mercury.

Given the compelling evidence of potential harm to pregnant women and their fetuses, the March of Dimes vigorously opposes any downgrading by the EPA of its previous regulatory findings as published December 20, 2000. The March of Dimes also disagrees with the proposed finding that control of coal-and oil-powered utility units is not “necessary” or “appropriate” as a means of reducing public health hazards.  A December 2000, EPA regulatory finding stated there is a plausible link between methylmercury concentrations in fish and mercury emissions from coal-fired electric utility steam generating units. We are concerned that rather than being “over-broad,” the “necessary” standard vis-a-vis mercury is indicated because mercury emissions continue to be a serious public health hazard.

Coal-burning emissions can and should be reduced further than the EPA's current proposed limits, because at the present rate they will worsen the already near-to-Reference Dose human intake of mercury in the course of normal fish consumption.  The March of Dimes believes that trade-offs favoring short-term emission control relief for utility units over long-term human health benefits is incompatible with the goal of protecting the developing fetus and child from known, avoidable environmental toxins.