WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- One in five U.S. childbearing-aged women have mercury levels over the Environmental Protection Agency's recommended limit, says a report released this week.
The report, produced by the Environmental Quality Institute at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, found mercury levels exceeding the EPA's recommended limit of 1 microgram of mercury per gram of hair in one in five women between age 16 and 49 tested.
More than 6,600 people from 50 states of all ages participated in the hair tests conducted by Greenpeace and the Sierra Club.
Mercury contamination is a particular concern for women of childbearing years and children under the age of 6 because mercury exposure in the womb can cause neurological damage and other health problems in children. The EPA has not established mercury exposure health standards for older children, men or women older than 49.
Coal-burning power plants are the nation's biggest mercury polluter, releasing 42 percent of the country's industrial mercury pollution, according to the Sierra Club. Mercury from dirty power plants falls into lakes, streams and oceans, concentrating in fish and shellfish, which are then consumed by people.
"In the samples we analyzed, the greatest single factor influencing mercury exposure was the frequency of fish consumption," said Steve Patch, co-director of the institute and co-author of the report. "We saw a direct relationship between people's mercury levels and the amount of store-bought fish, canned tuna fish or locally caught fish people consumed."
