The outcome of the fight will determine how strictly the government will control mercury emissions from incinerators, from coal-burning power plants, and from other industrial sources. The outcome will also directly affect the future of the commercial and recreational fishing industries. Mercury is an element, one of the 92 basic building blocks of everything on Earth.
Humans ingest mercury mainly by eating fish.
EPA's science advisory board has approved EPA's guideline, which was established to protect children, including children who might be exposed in the womb. If the EPA's reference dose is taken seriously, it means that people should severely restrict their consumption of fish and shellfish. EPA recently published results of two surveys of mercury in freshwater fish, one completed in 1985 and one completed in 1994. Thus one good-sized serving of fish per week is about all that is safe, if the fish are contaminated at average levels. At these levels of contamination, consumption must be strictly limited to remain within EPA's guidelines.