Private MD News

Federal government deciding where to store toxic mercury

Updated: 2009-07-10 22:26:54 CST Category: Environmental Toxin Testing

by Laurent Castellucci

The Department of Energy of the U.S. is considering seven sites to create a long term storage center for elemental mercury, according to a report in the Federal Register last week.

A law passed in 2008 ruled that the highly toxic substance was too dangerous to export and that removing it from the world market may encourage the switch to less poisonous alternatives.

Mercury is toxic to humans, and can cause various severe central nervous system effects, such as delirium and hallucinations. It can also cause sleep disturbance and tremors. Mercury poison testing can determine actual blood levels of mercury fairly easily.
According to the Tri-City Herald, almost 10 percent of U.S. women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their blood to put a baby at risk.

Currently under consideration for the storage center by the DOE are the Grand Junction Disposal Site in Colorado; Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada; Kansas City Plant in Missouri; the Idaho National Laboratory; the Savannah River Site in South Carolina; Waste Control Specialists in Andrews, Texas; and the Hanford nuclear reservation in Richland, Washington.

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