The April issue of Discover magazine carries articles that should make our hair stand on end. Science reporter Jeremy Jacquot describes a new worldwide study by a marine research group called Geotraces, which is busy testing the waters of the world for environmental contaminants.

Geotraces found that the levels of mercury in the North Pacific Ocean have increased 30 percent over the past 20 years, meaning greater risk of mercury-contaminated seafood.

Another article by David Kirby describes how environmental sleuths traced the source of a number of airborne contaminants invading our shores to China, where industrial growth over the past decade has been unprecedented.

Reports of smog-filled cities, heavily polluted rivers and lakes, and growing health problems among the Chinese population are legendary. Heavy industry, especially metal smelters and coal-burning facilities, are pouring tons of mercury into the atmosphere.

A study conducted in 1999 by Dr. David Streets, a senior energy and environmental policy scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory, determined that in that year the communist giant poured 590 tons of mercury emissions into the atmosphere. That compared to 117 tons produced by the United States.

By 2003, that number jumped to 767 tons of mercury, and the most recent estimates suggest China is churning out as much as 1,400 tons of mercury per year and is increasing toxic emissions 6 percent to 7 percent each year.

Atmospheric scientists have discovered that this mercury has risen into a series of plumes 20,000 feet up and is carried by air currents all the way to the United States. Rather than dispersing evenly so that the levels are diluted, the mercury appears to remain concentrated in these plumes.

Neuroscientist and researcher Dan Laks analyzed data on 6,000 American women collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and found that the concentration of mercury in them closely followed the passage of atmospheric mercury from China.

Few realize that atmospheric mercury is a major source of mercury contamination. It is ironic that Laks is quoted as saying, “Mercury’s neurotoxicity is irrefutable — and is linked to Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS.” You can find much more information on the dangers of mercury in my newsletter "Mercury: Save Your Body From Nature's Deadly Poison.''



Of course, the very same government officials who are in a justified panic over this mercury pollution vehemently defend injecting tens of millions of babies with high doses of mercury in vaccines. But then again, since when has the government been logical?

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