Category: Mercury

Mercury Posted on

Study Reveals High Concentrations of Mercury Falling from the Sky During Rainfall

After steadily dropping for many years, mercury levels in some parts of the United States are starting to rise again, according to a study published in Science of the Total Environment.  The long-term national trend is still downward, but levels of mercury in rainwater increased across the Rocky Mountains and the Midwest between 2007 and 2013. “It’s a surprising result,” said co-author David Gay of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. “Everybody expected [mercury levels] to continue going down. But our analysis shows that may not necessarily be the case.” Mercury is a chemical element that functions as a potent neurotoxin. The majority of mercury in the environment is released by human industrial activities, primarily through the burning of coal. Atmospheric mercury, such as from coal […] Read More

Mercury Posted on

2013: Global Mercury-Ban Misses Numerous Mercury-Containing Products

By Elizabeth Renter Natural Society As we reported in January of 2013, a convention ten years in the making has resulted in a treaty that will ban the production and trade of many products containing mercury as well as processes where mercury is released into the environment. But critics say the Minamata Convention didn’t go far enough, and suspect that those in attendance may have helped sway the treaty in their favor. As the Alliance for Natural Health reports, 140 countries were present at the convention earlier this year and over 90 of those countries just recently signed the final treaty. Because of the timing and the bickering in Washington, the delegation from the US was recalled due to the government shut-down. But the US joined on November 6 to sign the treaty. According […] Read More