Op-Ed

Medical groups pushed EPA on mercury rules

by Dr. Vicki Holmberg
Posted: April 12, 2011

As a physician, I was pleased with the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to regulate mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired plants. There are industry leaders and lawmakers who will oppose the new standards announce March 16, but it was health care providers who challenged the EPA's weak rules, on behalf of the American public, and won. Medical societies representing 300,000 of our nation's finest professionals — including the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association — concluded years ago that the EPA was doing too little to protect citizens, especially children, from the toxic effects of mercury and other components of air pollution.

The EPA had excluded coal-fired power plants from adequate control of mercury emissions, in spite of the availability of modern technology to do so, allowing these plants to produce most of the mercury that settles in our waterways. Eventually, this mercury ends up in fish, both locally and globally, and on the plates of consumers.

The health groups sued on these grounds, and a court-imposed deadline resulted in the EPA's proposed tighter standards for mercury and other toxic emissions.

While other metals may be useful or beneficial in trace amounts, the human body has no known use for mercury. Because we developed in a world where small quantities of mercury are naturally present, our bodies can tolerate some exposure, but not much.

Our current limits for mercury in fish are designed to protect us from excessive exposures, but the high level of emissions from power plants and other industrial sources makes it hard for our bodies and our ecosystems to cope.

As a byproduct of burning coal, mercury falls from the air continuously, and is entering our food chain at an alarming rate. Mercury can be tightly bound to vital organs. It can represent a particularly troubling threat to the brain and nerve tissue, especially in infants. It can lower IQ and bring about learning and developmental disorders like autism. Mercury can pass through the placenta and through the mother's breast milk, elevating babies' levels after birth. The less of this pollution we have in the environment and our bodies, the better off we are.

There is no doubt that American families are currently footing the bill — economically and physically — for air pollution. Health researchers have estimated that the annual cost to society from mercury exposure from coal-fired power plants is over $1 billion, due to subtle cognitive losses and lower adult productivity, and another $239 million per year, conservatively, for treatment of people with mental disabilities.

Benefits to health and society will more than offset the price of upgrading air pollution control technology and shifting to cleaner, renewable energy sources. We can expect to see decreased worker absenteeism and a reduction of premature deaths and emergency department visits on the order of tens of thousands of patients per year.

Pulmonary conditions, such as asthma and bronchitis, will certainly improve. Since we now know that air pollution causes inflammation in vessels, a factor in heart disease and stroke, we can also expect fewer heart attacks.

EPA is required to finalize its rule for mercury and other toxic air emissions by November. If the standards are in effect by 2016, as planned, this will be a positive step for our nation and for Kentucky.

It is gratifying that nurses and physicians were able to bring about this change and to make the public aware of well-documented risks of exposure to mercury and other toxic pollutants. Now we can hope that our public officials have the courage and foresight to follow their lead.

Dr. Vicki Holmberg is a Lexington physician.