Currently, the 'Stay Healthy, Stop Mercury' campaign is publicising its 'Halting the Child Brain Drain' report. As campaign members see things, nothing short of a total ban will stop the seepage of mercury (an element that the human body does not in the least require) into water supplies through industrial activity and discarded consumer products, such as batteries.
Released on January 10, 2007, the report is the result of a joint effort between the Health & Environment Alliance (HEAL) and alliance group Health Care without Harm. These groups also form part of the 'Zero Mercury' movement, an international information network also involving the European Environmental Bureau, Ban Mercury Working Group and Mercury Policy Project.
In hopes of drawing attention and awareness to one of today's most serious threats to our children's health, 'Halting the Child Brain Drain' was presented to the Governing Council meeting of the United Nations Environment Programme/Global Ministerial Environmental Forum in Nairobi in February, and also this June at the 4th International Conference on Children's Health and the Environment: 'Reducing Environmental Risks for Our Children.'
It is sadly ironic that a ban on most products containing trace mercury appears likely at a time when worldwide fishing stocks (the major biological repository for mercury and heavy metals) are dwindling to zero.
Mercury stays in the body once ingested. Its molecules are small enough to damage at the cellular level, and the chemical has been linked to premature brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Even if a total ban on mercury products were to be introduced tomorrow, tens of millions of Europeans — children and adults alike — will be carrying dangerous levels of mercury for the remainder of their lives.
Many of Daniel's generation will be charged with caring for a growing number of sufferers from mercury infestation, just one of many environmental issues that requires immediate attention.
