Public awareness is the most important thing being done to protect people from Mercury poisioning. The public has become more educated on the problem of Mercury contamination in fish through means of labels on fish and numerous protests. Filtering systems are trying to become installed in major coal plants to cut down on the levels of Mercury released.
Below is a video from youtube.com featuring Oceana, an organization trying to raise awareness on the mercury issue in food.
Political Policies:
Despite growing concern on the harmful effects of mercury contamination, current proposals made by the Bush Administration will weaken health protection for millions of Americans. The Clean Air Act, signed in 1990 by former President Bush, requires all power plants to reduce their emissions of mercury by 2007. Coal-fired power plants are responsible for over 40% of all mercury pollution in the US and they remain the only mercury polluters unregulated under federal clean air standards. However, a recent proposal known as “Clear Skies” is a rewrite to the United State’s air pollution laws that will weaken the Clean Air Act. This proposal made by the Bush administration allows power plants to emit far more mercury contaminants for many more decades to come.
Also, Senator Barack Obama has introduced legislation to ban the export of mercury. The Mercury Market Minimization Act, as it would be called, would prohibit the export of Mercury from the US beginning in 2010. This would drastically reduce uncontrolled use of mercury in other countries.
