Day: March 17, 2011

Clearing the air on EPA's Supreme Court 'mandate'

Not that it takes much to confuse Republican politicians more than they already are about the EPA and its regulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs), but the Greenwire article below tries to sow further confusion by claiming that Republicans are at least partially responsible for the confusion over whether the Supreme Court forced the EPA to regulate GHGs. Our comments are [bracketed in bold]. Continue reading Clearing the air on EPA's Supreme Court 'mandate'

Mercury is NOT TOXIC to anyone…

… at ambient exposure levels in the U.S.

Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental over-Protection Agency proposed “the first-ever national standards for mercury, arsenic and other toxic air pollution from power plants.”

The EPA stated,

Toxic air pollutants like mercury from coal- and oil-fired power plants have been shown to cause neurological damage, including lower IQ, in children exposed in the womb and during early development.

This statement is false. There is no such evidence from any credible scientific study.

Mercury is known to be toxic only at extremely high (i.e., poisoning) exposure levels that have been rarely experienced in the real world.

In addition to the lack of credible positive evidence linking typical mercury exposures with adverse health effects, studies of Seychelles Islands children have failed to link mercury exposure with developmental or other health problems.

It is the dose that makes the poison — and ambient exposures to mercury in the U.S. are simply not high enough to cause any harm.

If we were to consider mercury as a neurotoxin, as the EPA does, then we would have to consider water as a neurotoxin, too, since overhydration can cause fatal disturbance of brain function.

For more on mercury visit JunkScience.com’s Debunkosaurus.