I tend to agree although there are probably more important things for our legislators to be focusing on right now.
A few years ago I wondered why fish in San Francisco Bay have such a high mercury content and began researching an article about it. It turns out they're being contaminated by mercury left in streams as a result of the 1849 gold rush! Mercury is used to amalgamate flakes of gold mixed with magnetite after panning. Only the gold is attracted by the mercury and later the mercury is 'retorted' off with heat, leaving only gold. There are still huge amounts of free mercury in the beds of streams running off the Sierra into the Sacramento.
As you say, once the mercury is underwater and away from free oxygen, bacteria absorb it and pass it up through the food chain. Result: if you catch fish in S.F. Bay be careful about how many you eat!
Mercury, like all heavy metals, is toxic stuff. It's pretty certain the Roman aristocracy went downhill mentally from the combination of inbreeding and the use of lead plumbing and dinnerware. A huge source of dangerous environmental mercury is from discarded flashlight batteries. Naturally Congress won't do anything about that because it would be terribly unpopular.
. A huge source of dangerous environmental mercury is from discarded flashlight batteries. Naturally Congress won't do anything about that because it would be terribly unpopular.
EPA banned ASBESTOS in SCHOOLS and forced them to replace it all at huge costs.
This was because it was 'possible' that the friable asbestos could become jarred loose from basketballs hitting it.
When I asked officials at EPA why then did they not do anything about ASBESTOS BRAKE PADS AND LININGS which are on every auto and grind the asbestos into very fine particles which we all breathe in every day, I got the same answer, more or less. It would be very unpopular. It would cost individuals to replace them, and the CAR MFGTRS would SH*T a BRICK!
They may not have to, though - most of the major battery manufacturers have stopped adding mercury (along with cadmium and lead) to their alkaline batteries, so there's really only trace amounts in batteries these days.
It's pretty certain the Roman aristocracy went downhill mentally from the combination of inbreeding and the use of lead plumbing and dinnerware.
Maybe. I'm not entirely sure I buy it, since the water carried through Roman pipes was all cold water, and might not have actually absorbed much lead. But maybe it had some effect ;) It's pretty certain the Roman aristocracy went downhill mentally from the combination of inbreeding and the use of lead plumbing and dinnerware.