{"id":118,"date":"2011-02-23T09:51:52","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T17:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wordpress144\/?page_id=118"},"modified":"2023-01-05T10:59:24","modified_gmt":"2023-01-05T19:59:24","slug":"che-ak_february_23_2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.akaction.org\/webinars\/che-ak_february_23_2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercury Pollution in Alaska: Sources of Contamination, Health Effects, and Global Actions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-content\">\n<p>Mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal that has been linked to a range of adverse health effects including <strong>learning and developmental disorders, cardiovascular disease, and immune suppression<\/strong>. In the US, the largest single source of mercury emissions is from coal\u2010fired power plants. When coal is burned, trace amounts of mercury present in coal are released.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The primary sources of mercury pollution in Alaska are emissions from coal-fired power plants in Asia<\/strong> that travel to Alaska via air and ocean currents. Mercury accumulates in fish, wildlife and people. Humans are primarily exposed through consumption of mercury-contaminated fish and other seafood. The development of proposed coal mines in Alaska will lead to increased export of Alaskan coal to Asia, which will in turn increase mercury pollution here at home.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mercury pollution in Alaska also comes from local coal-fired power plants.<\/strong> For decades, coal combustion waste from power plants in the Fairbanks area has been disposed of with virtually no restrictions. Samples of coal ash collected in the Fairbanks area in June 2010 were found to contain a range of toxic heavy metals including arsenic, vanadium, and mercury.\u00a0In some samples,<strong> mercury was found at levels 70 times higher than background soils,<\/strong> and at levels high enough to be a concern if inhaled in the form of windblown dust. To learn more, check out ACAT\u2019s new report, Coal Ash in Alaska: Our Health, Our Right to Know.<\/p>\n<p>The global implications of mercury pollution call for action on an international level. Negotiations are now underway for a global mercury treaty to minimize and eliminate mercury exposure from anthropogenic sources. ACAT is participating in the negotiations as a member of the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN).<\/p>\n<p>Join us for a teleconference discussion on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 to:<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>Learn about local and global sources of mercury pollution in Alaska<\/li>\n<li>Learn about the health effects linked to mercury exposure<\/li>\n<li>Find out about global actions to reduce mercury emissions and protect millions of people from the devastating health effects of mercury exposure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>http:\/\/akaction.org\/Tackling_Toxics\/Alaska\/CHE-AK_Info_Pages\/CHE-AK_February_23_2011.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[216,234],"tags":[25,22,23,27,24],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akaction.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akaction.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akaction.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akaction.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akaction.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.akaction.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14319,"href":"https:\/\/www.akaction.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/14319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akaction.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akaction.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akaction.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}