Reality Check: Straight Talk About Mercury

The Paper:

U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs, 1615 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20062. .

Review This Paper:
http://www.uschamber.com/issues/comments/040429_kovacs_mercury_comments.htm

The Purpose of this Paper:
To state the U.S. Chamber of Commerce viewpoints about the federal Clear Skies legislation and the EPA oral reference dose that both attempt to control the methylmercury levels in fish Americans eat.

Some Background, Methods, Results, Caveats, and Other Select Points:

• This is not a peer-reviewed, scientific paper.
• There are two beliefs driving the George W. Bush Administration Clear Skies legislation and the EPA methylmercury oral reference dose (RfD) regulation. These are:
  1. A general belief that the levels of methylmercury found in fish Americans eat is bad for them; and
  2. A belief that limiting U.S., coal-fired, power plant, mercury emissions will greatly reduce the methylmercury levels in fish Americans eat.

• Recently published, peer-reviewed, scientific papers based on research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) indicate that the methylmercury levels in fish eaten by Americans are not harmful
• Science now knows that U.S., coal-fired, power plants release very little mercury into the environment compared to the huge, global, mercury emissions from other human activities - and some natural sources.
• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce believes that the EPA does not know if limiting U.S., coal-fired, power plant, mercury emissions will reduce the methylmercury levels in the fish Americans eat. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also believes that the EPA knows there are no proven and demonstrated methods to effectively reduce mercury emissions enough to meet the Clear Skies, legislative standards.

A Bottom Line:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce believes that the contemplated federal legislative and regulatory actions mentioned above are both premature and ill advised.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also believes there must first be much more scientific debate about the methylmercury levels in fish eaten by most Americans before the federal government takes any legislative and/or regulatory action(s) that might instead unnecessarily frighten Americans from eating fish.

Find This Paper for Your Review:
Reality Check: Straight Talk About Mercury. U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs.
http://www.uschamber.com/issues/comments/040429_kovacs_mercury_comments.htm