How Are We Doing? The Mercury Story

The late Ed Koch (former mayor of New York) famously used to ask his constituents "How am I doing?" Answering this question is also prudent (if not required) in evaluating environmental policies. Probably the most relevant measure of how we are doing for mercury is the level of total mercury in blood (which primarily reflects recent methylmercury levels in blood). The EPA's recently released 2013 Report on Children's Health and the Environment in America concluded that the median concentration of total mercury in the blood of U.S. child-bearing age women (16 to 40 years old) is 0.8 millionths of a gram per liter (µg/l) (based on the latest Centers for Disease Control (CDC) total mercury blood data, 2009 to 2010). Thus, half of the women had measured levels above this concentration and half below. Also, 95 percent of the total mercury blood concentrations measured in this group were at or below 4.2 µg/l. Total mercury blood levels were lower for children and males.