[wvns] U.S. Streams Contaminated With Mercury

U.S. Streams Fail The Test: All Fish Found Contaminated With Mercury
Beth Buczynski
http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/u-s-streams-fail-the-test-all-fish-found-contaminated-with-mercury/

U.S. Streams Fail The Test: All Fish Found Contaminated With Mercury
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People usually associate being out in nature with positive feelings, like freedom, peace, and vitality. But thanks to the findings of a recent study, waterways all over America might soon become associated with something else- poison.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), recently completed a study of 291 freshwater streams across the United States, and to their dismay, 100 percent of the fish tested from these streams were found to be contaminated with mercury.

"This study shows just how widespread mercury pollution has become in our air, watersheds and many of our fish in freshwater streams," said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Salazar might have also added the American food supply to that list, as last year researchers found that foods containing high fructose corn syrup, an all-too prevalent processed sweetner contained detectible amounts of mercury as well.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that builds up in the food chain at ever higher concentrations in predators such as large fish and humans. It is especially damaging to the developing nervous systems of fetuses and children, but can have severe effects on adults, as well. The pollutant enters the environment almost wholly as atmospheric emissions from industrial processes, primarily the burning of coal for electricity. It then spreads across the plant and settles back to the surface, eventually concentrating in rivers, lakes and oceans, where it enters the aquatic food chain (Natural News).

The study, which gathered and tested samples of water, sediment and fish in the 291 streams between 1998 and 2005 concentrated mostly on larger species near the top of the food chain, such as largemouth bass.

The findings of this study seem to indicate that mercury pollution, thought to be spread mostly through agicultural chemicals and waste from the production of coal and other fossil fuels, is a silent threat to animals and humans even in rural areas. This study is one of the first to focus on streams, rather than lakes, reservoirs, wetlands or oceans, where pollution can be more obvious.

More than 25 percent of the fish were contaminated at levels higher than those set as the threshold for human consumption.

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