Poisoning Ourselves Out of Existence

Nuclear war is a great threat but before that happens, we will most likely poison ourselves out of existence. Mercury and heavy metal poisoning is already affecting freshwater fish, wildlife, songbirds and insects from the soil polluted with toxins. You may think that in America, we have solved our own Mercury pollution problems. You may be misled and think that Mercury and heavy metal toxicity is only a problem coming from third world countries such as China and India. Think again. Here is the United States there is a serious life threatening problem of Mercury and heavy metal contamination going on now as I write this. The government has taken steps but the steps are not enough, nor been implemented soon enough to stop Mercury and other heavy metal poisoning of our environment.

The accumulation of Mercury and heavy metals comes from many different sources.

This quote from the Extensive Wildlife Report published in 2006 really hits the nail on the head," Historically, scientists have believed that mercury only threatens species that live and feed in aquatic habitats. However, recent research is showing that mercury is accumulating at dangerous levels in terrestrial species as well. No longer is the threat of mercury exposure limited to fish eating wildlife such as loons. Scientists are now finding that mercury is building up in insect-eating species such as forest songbirds. This new research has turned the conventional thinking about mercury contamination on its head-and the implications are a great cause of concern for wildlife biologists. As we begin to recognize that there is truly no link in the food chain untouched by mercury, we realize that mercury pollution is a far greater threat to our treasured biodiversity than previously thought."

It may not be just the Mercury from vaccines that may be the cause of Autism and cancers. The complete answer may be the accumulation of Mercury from many sources in our environment including fish, air, water, food sources, and on every level including vaccines. The assault from many different levels is where it becomes life threatening. You may not eat fish but you breathe and you drink water. Since Mercury contamination is coming from so many different sources, Mercury poisoning is a possibility for anyone no matter where they live. If you live by a coal mine or power plant, the threat doubles.

A good example is the Navajo Indian Nation. The government built uranium plants on their reservation in the 1970's. Their cancer rate has doubled between 1970 and the 1990's. The Navajo children suffer from Navajo Neuropathy. This is a rare degenerative disease of the peripheral nervous system caused form Uranium toxicity. The Navajo land and air is polluted with Uranium particles. These children suffer from deadly and painful symptoms such as feet and hand abnormalities, muscular weakness, infections, stunted growth, corneal ulcers, delayed walking and effects on learning and IQ.

Many of the Navajo tribe suffer from elevated rates of cancer, lung disease, infections, and skin diseases. Our government did not do much until recently to help them. These elevated cancer and lung cancer rates are a current problem now in 2009.

Everyone has heard about The Three Mile Island accident in 1979. You may not be aware that in that same year there was a massive uranium spill is Chruch Rock, Arizona on the Navajo reservation? It resulted in the greatest peacetime release of radiation in our history. A dam containing thousands of gallons of contaminated uranium water burst and 94 million gallons of radioactive water ended up in the Rio Puerco River. The health plight of the Navajo Indians living in a deadly environment have been ignored for the most part by our government. Did you hear much about this on the news at that time? No, only the Three Mile Island incident was headline news. Is this how our government protects us?

People who live around coal mines have a greater rate of lung cancer and other cancers as well. Men in our military who fight in chemically polluted war zones have greater rates of immune problems and diseases. This does not even take into consider our jobs, many of which cause heavy metal toxicity. Examples are gardeners, nail professionals, concrete and construction workers, and the list goes on.

Vaccines: Vaccines contain Mercury. This Mercury is directly injected into the fragile and underdeveloped immune systems of infants and children. This along with mercury and lead coming from toys they play with, the air and the food puts a huge toxic overload on their immune system and in the body as a whole.

Pollution of our fresh water fish: The news now is that our fresh water fish are polluted, not just the ocean fish. Largemouth Bass, Brook Trout, Walleye, Northern Pike, Freshwater Trout, Yellow Perch are now all contaminated with Mercury to the point that most of the states do not recommend you eat them.

Pollution of our wildlife: Mercury and heavy metal poisoning is now showing up in the wild life of the eco- system from Big Horn Sheep, Mink, Raccoons, Indiana Bats, and the Florida Panther to smaller creatures. Some of these animals do not eat fish so their contamination is coming from the air, the water they drink, and the plants they graze on.

Pollution of our Songbirds from the insects they eat: Recent research studies show that now our songbirds are contaminated with Mercury. It has been shown that in Massachusetts as an example, that blackbirds have a Mercury level 5 times higher than the fish eating birds. Other birds showing high Mercury contamination include the Prothonotary Warbler, Bicknell's Thrush, Red Eyed Vireo, Carolina Wren, Louisianna Water thrush, the Tree Swallow, Wood Thrush, and Common Grackle. The Mercury in the air falls to the ground where it is converted into Methylmercury in the forest soils. It then contaminates the insects the birds eat such as earthworms, beetles, spiders, and other bugs. If the forest floor is contaminated with Mercury, it then means much of the food we eat is also contaminated by Mercury and other metals. Our human food sources are becoming polluted.

Poisoning from both surface mining and underground coal mines: There are 1,000 plus surface mines and over 1,000 underground mines in the United States. Coal production is concentrated in 10 states but is produced in 27 states. Wyoming, Illinois, West Virginia, and Montana are the leading coal producing states. West Virginia, and Kentucky produce around 170,000 tons of coal. We currently have 100,000 coal miners down from 220,000 in the 1980's. That is still 100,000 Americans being exposed to Mercury and heavy metal poisoning every year of their life. If you were one of those 100,000 most likely to die from lung cancer, you would be pretty mad! The US produces over 1 billion tons of coal per year. According to a report by the Environmental Integrity Project , we have 50 coal-fired polluting plants that are the worst polluters in the US. These 50 of the 2,000 coal plants produce 20 tons of Mercury poisoning into the air each year. Alabama is the top polluter producing more than 1 ton of Mercury, 14 percent higher than in 2006. Coal production is responsible for 40 per cent of the Mercury poisoning going on here in the US.

Everyone is at risk in today's world for Mercury and heavy metal poisoning.

All of us are at risk for Mercury and heavy metal poisoning in these days and times. All of us should have Mercury and Lead poisoning tests each year as a standard. If you are going to get pregnant, you should get your Mercury and Lead levels tested before you even attempt to get pregnant. Just because you do not each fish, does not mean you do not need to get the tests. Everyone is at risk. Mercury contamination is in every level of our environment. In Los Angeles, for example, 25 % of the air pollution is coming from China. Just because you do not live near a coal mine does not mean you are free of Mercury. No one is immune. The threat is real and immediate.

References:

Poisoning Wildlife: The Reality of Mercury Pollution, September 2006, Larry Schweiger

http://www.bydesign.com/fossilfuels/links/html/coal/coal_get.html

http://www.ket.org/Trips/Coal/AGSMM/agsmmwhere.html

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/mecury-pollution-coal.php