NYT: Study of Songbirds Finds High Levels of Mercury

[DeepModem Mom]

Study of Songbirds Finds High Levels of Mercury
By ANTHONY DePALMA
Published: July 25, 2006


Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
Tests on birds like this wood thrush found in the Catskills last year indicate that mercury may be a hazard in woods as well as in New York's waters.

A biologist studying wild songbirds in New York State has found that all 178 woodland birds he tested last year had unusually high levels of mercury in their blood and feathers, a sign that the toxic chemical has spread farther in the environment than previously thought.

The biologist, David C. Evers, who is also executive director of the Biodiversity Research Institute, a nonprofit ecological organization in Gorham, Me., said that his preliminary findings challenged existing perceptions about how far mercury travels, how it interacts with the environment and how it affects various forms of wildlife — all with worrisome implications for people.

While mercury has often been found in lakes and streams and in fish, Dr. Evers’s work documents the unexpected presence of the chemical in birds that do not live on water and never eat fish.

“Impacts on biological diversity usually show impacts on human health,” Dr. Evers said in a telephone interview. “If these birds are having trouble, that should be a very good indicator of a risk to our own well-being and health as well.”...

***

Much of the mercury that is causing problems in New York comes from coal-burning power plants, including those in Ohio and other states in the Midwest. Smokestack emissions from those plants tend to drift eastward. The airborne mercury eventually falls to earth, settling in lakes and streams where it is transformed into methyl mercury, which is toxic....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/nyregion/25birds.html?_r=1&oref=login

[Gully Foyle]

1. Wow

Dual purpose, sweet birdsong that can tell the temp.

[leftchick]

2. yes those coal burning plants

doesn't bush reward them for polluting as well with tax breaks?

[zonkers]

3. We are poisoining our world. We know it. We know it yet do it anyway.

It's a deathwish. We must acknowledge the interconnectedness of all living and develop master plan for the world environment, free of politics. A plan, that leads to strictly enforced international law. I have no idea how this would come about quickly but what other choice is there?

[TomInTib]

4. My cat may be in serious trouble. nt

[sgxnk]

5. it's a Plus

you can put your cat's tail in yer mouth and get yer temperature read

perfect

if he doesn't scratch yer eyes out

[mom cat]

6. Thanks George for the clean air and skies

F U George!

[gorbal]

7. Gee, I wonder why there is so much autism

Is it the mercury in the water? Vaccines? Why all these people with problems resembling "minamata" disease all of the sudden?

http://www.american.edu/TED/MINAMATA.HTM

I wonder if that study done in Yokohama in Japan that "proved" the mercury in Vaccines wasn't responsible for autism was done in an area that also was polluted with mercury.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/tbindex.cfm?tbid=669