The Mercury Export Ban of 2008 went into effect last month. The bill, proposed by then-Senator Barack Obama, was signed into law by President George W. Bush on the eve of the 2008 elections.
It’s notable for being an environmental regulation that received bipartisan support. Both sides of the aisle can agree that mercury, a potent neurotoxin with negative health effects, is best kept out of our air and water resources.
Currently, one in ten American women of childbearing age has blood-mercury levels that put her future children at risk of birth defects.
As discussed in a previous Earth Wise segment, people are exposed to mercury’s most toxic form through eating contaminated fish. In the U.S., 44 states have fish-advisories due to mercury pollution. And worldwide, fisheries and human health suffer from rising mercury contamination.
The Mercury Export Ban of 2008 seeks to protect the global environment by taking U.S. mercury supplies off the market. Before the ban went into effect—despite efforts to regulate American industry—our country was one of the world’s leading exporters of elemental mercury.
Most of our exports were bound for developing nations, where the toxic metal was used in highly polluting practices, like artisanal gold mining—which is considered one of the most significant sources of mercury release into the environment.
Now that it’s in effect, The Mercury Export Ban prevents the sale, distribution, transfer, and export of elemental mercury. It requires the Department of Energy to manage the long-term disposal of U.S. supplies.
Web Links
Mercury Export Ban
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/s906/text
Daily Kos
NRDC Fish Guide
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp
EPA and Mercury
ENS Press Release
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2008/2008-10-15-091.asp
Photo, taken on December 20, 2007, courtesy of James O’Malley via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, with partial support from the Field Day Foundation.