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Mercury Pollution

In: Business and Management

Submitted By mannypa7
Words 1060
Pages 5
• Mercury is a neurotoxin that can harm the developing brains of children and infants; in adults, exposure can lead to memory loss and affect fertility and blood pressure.
• Biggest emitters- o Coal fired power plants- Coal accounts for nearly 50 percent of the electricity generated in this country—and almost 50 tons of mercury emissions annually. o Cement kilns- all the cement kilns in the U.S. combined pump out roughly 23,000 pounds of mercury every year. The group released a report last July finding that, individually, some cement kilns emit nearly one and a half times more mercury than the most polluting coal-fired power plants. o Trash incinerators. Hazardous waste, medical waste, and regular garbage incinerators release 13.1 tons (or about 26,000 pounds) of mercury every year, according to statistics from the EPA. The mercury comes from common household items, such as compact fluorescent light bulbs and thermostats, and from automobile scrap.
• Studies tend to find that environmental degradation and income have an inverted U- shaped relationship, with pollution increasing with income at low levels of income and decreasing with income at high levels of income.
• Use the GEMS- global environmental monitoring system
• Past income has been a major determinant of current pollution standards.
• The metals and toxics prove difficult to remove from drinking water by standard purification procedures and also bioaccumulate in fish that are later ingested by humans. Many of these substances accumulate into the bottom sediment that is released slowly over time.
• Health hazards- irritability, depression, kidney and liver damage and birth defects
• Pollution is best controlled by government regulation that reduce effluent discharges and that ensure proper disposal of sludge from treatment of plants and toxic wastes.
• Concentrations rise with output in the

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