ANA and Other Health Care Groups Sue EPA to Prevent Future Mercury Exposure
In an unprecedented action, ANA and three other leading health care groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) June 14 in D.C. Circuit Court to force the federal agency to strengthen its official rule on mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants.
The rule, finalized on March 15, fails to protect the health of the current generation of America’s children. It delays significant reductions in mercury pollution from power plants by at least 10 to 15 years and allows dangerous levels of mercury to spew unabated.
Many Americans are exposed to unsafe levels of mercury from environmental sources, including power plant emissions, by eating contaminated fish. And mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants make up more than 40 percent of all emissions in the U.S. environment – the largest source of uncontrolled mercury pollution in this country. The “Clean Air Act” requires the EPA to make public health its first and only priority, and the law mandates that these plants reduce their mercury pollution by up to 90 percent of current emission levels by 2008.
According to widely accepted scientific research, mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can cause developmental and learning disabilities, reduced IQ and impaired motor skills in children, and altered sensation, impaired hearing and vision, and motor disturbances in adults. Further, EPA investigators have estimated that more than 600,000 newborns are born each year overexposed to unhealthy mercury levels in utero.
“Many young children exposed to mercury before birth will suffer subtle but irreversible brain damage,” said ANA President Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, RN. “Preventing this tragedy, which affects not only families but entire communities, should be a national priority.”
In addition to ANA, plaintiffs in the suit are Physicians for Social Responsibility, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association. They are demanding that the EPA address the public health implications of a 15-year delay in reducing current mercury emissions from power plants, the risks of hotspots and the EPA’s decision to favor industry by removing mercury from power plants from its official list of hazardous air pollutants.
More information is available at www.mercuryaction.org.
Additionally, ANA has long been a strong advocate on environmental issues and has pursued key changes to health care practices that affect the environment through its coalition work with Health Care Without Harm (www.noharm.org) and Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (www. h2e-online.org).
Copyright American Nurses’ Association, Inc. Jul/Aug 2005