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10/31/2007: "Mercury poisoning rampant in industrialized world"

As many as 600,000 babies may be born in the USA each year with irreversible brain damage because pregnant mothers ate mercury-contaminated fish, the Environmental Protection Agency says. Medical researchers are just beginning to explore such mercury exposure in adults, which can leave some people struggling through life in a disorienting "fish fog." Nationwide, more than 8,000 lakes, rivers and bays are compromised by mercury's toxic effects.

A partial answer can be found in the nearly 500 coal-burning power plants that supply half the nation's electricity. The $298-billion-a-year electric utility industry is the nation's largest source of mercury air emissions and the latest target of federal and state clean-air regulations.

[ That sounds like terrible government to me, that allows this! Maybe the "fish fog" got them first? ]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-10-29-mercury-cover_N.htm?csp=1