INTERESTING TIMES

The EPA's new rule is a compromise between public health and corporate profits. Nothing comes for free. Particulates cause increased cardiovascular and respiratory disease and have neurological effects as well. The new rule is called MATS: Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. Obama can't get anything done through congress, but he is still working his evil socialist ways via agencies designed to protect public interests. I for one appreciate some attention given to public health: better to have some reasonably devised limits than to simply let industry poison us for greater profit, even if we WANT the product of that industry.

The EPA proposal incorporates three separate limits: one for mercury, a second for acid gases and a third for particulate matter, which is used to target emissions of metals such as chromium, selenium and cadmium.

In its March proposal, it said the regulation could prevent 17,000 premature deaths from toxic emissions. Today it lowered that estimate to 11,000, according to the statement. Jackson said improved estimates for benefits from a rule to combat pollution across state borders leaves the mercury standard with fewer toxics to remove.

The changes announced today include easing off on mandatory controls for particulate matter, dispatching with pollution caps when plants are starting up or shutting down, and allowing companies greater leeway to average mercury emissions across units. Those changes will save utilities about $1 billion annually, EPA said in a fact sheet.

For more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-21/epa-issues-air-toxics-cap-for-u-s-coal-fired-power-plants.html

For the rule straight from the EPA: http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/actions.html

That's what it sounds like from the letter behind the cut (at bottom), anyway. Then I searched and found that there are some senators working to strengthen the Clean Air Act on some specific pollutants, specifically with regard to coal. And frankly, I'm all for it. We need clean air. Clean air makes all the difference. I come from East Tennessee, the land of acid rain and asthma. And I have lived where the air is clean. I know the difference.

The specific proposals are to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 80% by 2018, mono-nitrogen oxides by 53% and mercury by 90% by 2015. I don't know a thing about the technology involved, but if these adjustments ARE technologically feasible we absolutely should require that our plants do them. Even knowing that we have to pay for it. Sulfur dioxide is the main thing that causes acid rain, and acid rain kills the trees and depletes the soil and turns the land into waste. It is the nightmare that people have when they think about nuclear devastation, only it happens. Nitrogen oxide contributes to acid rain. Mercury is just plain old toxic, neurotoxic and hard to get rid of. If we can stop plants from blowing mercury into the air, it won't get rained into the water, and it won't concentrate in the fish or come pouring through our taps. We won't be so poisoned.

Oh, you say, you're not poisoned? Don't check your own heavy metals if you don't want to know.

On the subject of fossil fuel dependence, here's a short history from the Post Carbon Institute.


( this letter from CREDO action in my email inbox today )

Here's Mercola's latest post on the subject.

We already knew we were getting a lot of mercury from fillings, but the dental profession and FDA continued to say they were "safe and effective"... safe and effective.. safe and effective.. safe and effective... It's the same mantra they use for vaccines containing lord knows what toxins... safe and effective... Now we know to be suspicious when that mantra comes out. Then somewhere along the line some dentists got real and decided they wanted to stop poisioning their patients, and suddenly had more business than they knew what to do with. The old-school dentists who still said fillings that were 50% mercury were safe and effective started losing ground. The FDA follows the money, like a dog follows a biscuit. I'm not a cynic, I'm a realist. =-] Too bad my brain is already frying/fried from the 20 mercury laden fillings that I got when I was a child.

I just learned yesterday that high dose N-acetyl-cysteine is dangerous for people with a high mercury load because it mobilizes it and is thought to transport it across the blood brain barrier and INTO the brain. I did not know this and took NAC along with detox protocols so I probably worsened my own problem. I wonder if taking NAC with a chelator is of any help in removing said toxin from the brain?

LAB Dx III Spring 2009 FINAL EXAM STUDY OBJECTIVES
( from K's start, my answers evolving )

The bad news is that this increase is only the beginning--the curve is headed for the ceiling. I find it remarkable that my current Harvard-educated nutrition teacher talks about the health value of eating fish without expressing concern about mercury content. The research hasn't penetrated his consciousness yet. But it will.

I've stopped eating sushi since I tested with high mercury, arsenic, and very high lead levels, about a year ago. I have no idea where all my heavy metals came from, but I did eat a lot of sushi for a while there. I did a round of oral DMSA chelation. I'm going to retest soon to see if how much that treatment decreased my body load.
( notes )

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/09/20/autism-statistics-alarm-african-children.aspx?source=nl

The Somali population in Minnesota is have an outrageously high incidence of autism, and Mercola offers his theories as to WHY. According to him, if you combine a dose of mercury sufficient to cause death in 1/100 individuals, with a dose of aluminum also sufficient to cause death in 1/100 individuals, you get a 100% death rate. And the vaccines being administered to poor internationals these days contain both. These Somalis emigrated by way of refugee camps in Kenya and are given the same vaccination more than once due to poor record-keeping. The Somalis are providing 16% of the autistic children in special ed classes in Minnesota. Too bad for them.