Stay Healthy, Stop Mercury

The most vulnerable populations to mercury are babies and young children, and by extension, the women who bear them. Because mercury is most toxic to the developing brain; because mercury is stored in the human body and transmitted to the baby during pregnancy; and because many women are unaware of the problem and the sources of exposure; pregnant women or women who have yet to bear children can unknowingly expose their foetus to the risk of serious neurological disorders. Mercury is highly toxic, especially when metabolized into methyl mercury, which accumulates in fish, travels up the food chain and poses risks to humans who consume fish on a regular basis. The main sources of exposure are firstly, through consumption of fish, especially certain kinds of fish - those highest in the aquatic food chain; secondly, through exposure to mercury via contact at work; or thirdly, from industrial sources in the community.

 The Stay Healthy, Stop Mercury campaign is calling on the EU to show leadership in efforts to control environmental mercury pollution by securing a global ban on mercury. Ultimately, the only solution is to eliminate all uses of mercury everywhere, to collect and store remaining mercury safely and to clean up mercury pollution.

 Within the framework of the campaign a small scale survey took place in 21 countries involving 250 women. Cyprus is one of the countries participating in the survey under the coordination of AKTI. The findings are interesting and worrying: more than one in six women involved in the study has a level of mercury above a widely-accepted recommended safety dose.

For more information and for downloading the full report, please visit the campaign website www.env-health.org/stopmercury/ .