BREAKING NEWS!

June 10, 2004
Methylmercury in the Gulf of Mexico: State of Knowledge and Research Needs

This report was written because Senator Jeff Sessions (AL) requested that the President reactivate the National Science and Technology Council' s Interagency Working Group on Methylmercury to assess the research and monitoring activities in the Gulf of Mexico, and to make recommendations for federal and state agencies involved in mercury issues.

The report summarizes what information is currently available and identifies areas that will require more work in order to understand and quantify the methylmercury problem in the region. The data and information gaps are identified and referred to the Gulf of Mexico Program because the Program "is in the best position to lead the planning and implementation of improved mercury research in the region."

October 20, 2003
New Study Confirms Link Between Fish Consumption and High Mercury Levels

June 25, 2003
The results and commentary on the Prenatal Methylmercury Exposure from Ocean Fish Consumption in the Sychelles Child Development Study have been posted in PDF format (requires the latest version of Adobe Acrobat reader, free from Adobe's web site ).

June 20, 2003
The long-awaited Mercury FAQ (frequently asked questions) is now available! This downloadable PDF and is available through this link as well as the list of Mercury Information Links at the bottom of the page.

POST-MEETING UPDATE:
January 24, 2003

Though the frequency of TV news reports and newspaper articles on methylmercury has waned dramatically in recent months, the issue itself remains a high priority for MASGC and several other organizations on the Gulf Coast and around the country. A Task Force has been created by President Bush to investigate the matter, the EPA Gulf of Mexico Program set up a Mercury Work Group to help states adopt consistent Gulf-wide mercury advisories, and MASGC is developing a seafood consumption survey which will help establish seafood eating patterns among Gulf Coast residents.

One of the most recent developments is the creation of a "Frequently Asked Questions" publication published by Dr. Richard Wallace, Alabama Sea Grant Extension Program Leader and Director of the Auburn Marine Education and Research Center in Mobile. The aim of the publication is to answer the most common questions posed by the general public and to answer them based on scientific research, but presented in layman's terms. This publication is in its final review and will be available in the next few weeks on the Mercury Forum's website at www.masgc.org/mercury. Present plans call for more than 1,000 copies of the publication to be printed and distributed through the Gulf Coast region.

"The concerns of mercury in the Gulf Region are still very important to MASGC," says its director,
Dr. LaDon Swann. "We will continue to use our research and outreach resources to stay on top of this matter on behalf of our stakeholders in Mississippi and Alabama."

Though concerns about mercury have been around for 30 years, a deluge of media attention earlier this year brought the subject again to the forefront of people's minds. This led MASGC, the Mobile NEP, The FORUM, and Mobile Bay Watch to organize a special conference, The Mercury Forum, which was held this past May in Mobile, and was attended by 235 people. The purpose of the Forum was to explore the different aspects of methylmercury based on current and past scientific research. Attendees learned what methylmercury really is, how it gets into fish and humans, the health risks it creates, and what is being done to protect humans from these risks.

May 25, 2002

The Mercury Forum Meeting held May 20-21, 2002 was a huge success in itself, but promises to be an even more powerful success in the future as a launching point for a pro-active program to deal with the high levels of mercury found in the Northern Gulf and elsewhere. More than 280 persons participated in the meeting, including U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. His personal communication with President Bush just prior to the Forum has resulted in the establishment of a special task force to look into the Gulf Mercury issue. Senator Sessions' commitment set the tone for the meeting, and the other speakers and attendees echoed this commitment and concern in the discussions that followed each session of the meeting. The culmination of hundreds of ideas and opinions resulted in a list of 17 pro-active recommendations that everyone prioritized at the end of the meeting.

This website will continue to provide new information about the Mercury Forum and the future actions that occur as a result of this meeting. First, in the next few days, most of the PowerPoint presentations presented at the Forum will be made available on this site. In addition, a new complete list of attendees, speaker abstracts and bios will be posted along with regular updates and new sources of information.

Please visit us again soon and often.

Mercury Forum Speaker and Presentation Information Below you will find a list of the speakers and their presentations given at the Mercury Forum in Mobile on May 20-21, 2002. To access each speaker's biography, presentation abstract or PowerPoint® presentation, just click on the appropriate button in the left-hand column. If a button lights up red, it means that particular information is not available on this web site. B = Biography A = Abstract P = PowerPoint® Presentation B A P Mercury in Humans   Health Risk Assessment Dr. John Risher Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry             Seychelles Study Drs. Philip Davidson and Gary Myers University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry             Faroe Islands Studies Drs. Richard W. Clapp and Philippe Grandjean Boston University School of Public Health             EPA Fish Consumption Advisories Mr. Joel Hansel U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 4             Development of Methylmercury Reference Dose Dr. Kathryn Mahaffey U.S. Environmental Protection Agency             Development of Consistent Mercury Advisories in the Gulf of Mexico Dr. Frederick Kopfler EPA - Gulf of Mexico Program           Mercury in the Environment   Historical Background of Mercury in the Environment Mr. Charles Moore South Carolina Department of Natural Resources             Chemistry of Mercury to Methylmercury Dr. Gary Gill Texas A&M University - Galveston             Atmospheric Deposition of Mercury Dr. Jane Guentzel Coastal Carolina University             Offshore Oil and Gas Sources Dr. Jerry Neff Battelle-American Petroleum Institute                   Current and Proposed Mercury Science and Education Projects   Fish Advisories in Alabama Dr. Neil Sass Alabama Department of Public Health             Fish Monitoring Programs in Alabama Mr. Fred Leslie Alabama Department of Environmental Management             Survey of the Occurrence of Mercury in Fishery Resources of the Gulf of Mexico Dr. Frederick Kopfler EPA - Gulf of Mexico Program             Methylmercury in Marine Fish: A Gulf-Wide Initiative Mr. Ron Lukens Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission             Gulf-Wide Fish Monitoring Program Dr. Spencer Garrett National Marine Fisheries Service           Selected Mercury-Related Research   Current Research into Mercury Control from Coal-Fired Power Plants Dr. Larry Monroe Southern Company Services Inc.             Distribution of Mercury in the Mobile River Basin in Relation to Land Use Dr. Kimberly Warner University of Alabama, Department of Biological Sciences             Social Impact Assessment of Mercury Contamination in Mobile River Basin Dr. Hobson Bryan University of Alabama, Department of Geography           Economic Realities of Mercury in the Environment   Seafood Industry Perspective Mr. Bob Collette National Fisheries Institute             Recreational Fishing Perspective Dr. Bob Shipp University of South Alabama             Environmental Perspective Ms. Felice Stadler National Wildlife Federation             Minamata Plus 50: Where Are We? Dr. Leonard Levin Electric Power Research Institute

Background
Mercury in the environment has been a major item on the environmental front for the past 30-plus years. During that period, there has been substantial research concerning mercury's health effect and how it moves into and through the food chain. Over the last several years, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration have issued fish advisories concerning, among other things, mercury levels in recreationally-caught fish. At the present time 41 states have issued fish advisories.

During 2001, the issue of seafood with high levels of methylmercury was raised in a series of articles appearing in the Mobile Register. Most stakeholder groups have expressed a desire to participate in addressing the methylmercury issue in coastal Alabama and the northern Gulf of Mexico. This science-based program will serve as a forum for scientists, educators, consumer groups, environmentalists, industry, and policy makers to learn more about methylmercury in the environment. The meeting will also serve as a first step toward developing a comprehensive plan for addressing the issue that involves all stakeholder groups.

Mercury Information
For additional information regarding methylmercury in the environment, we recommend these Web sites:

• EPA's mercury site:
  http://www.epa.gov/mercury
  
• FDA's mercury site:
  http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/mercury.html
• The Mercury Policy Project:
  http://www.mercurypolicy.org
• Mobile Register's Mercury Articles:
  http://al.com/specialreport/?mobileregister/mercuryinthewater.html
• National Academy Press' Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury:
  http://books.nap.edu/books/0309071402/html/1.html
• National Toxicology Program's Mercury Workshop:
  http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/Main_Pages/PUBS/MethMercWkshpRpt.html
• Gulf of Mexico Program's Mercury Survey:
  http://mo.cr.usgs.gov/gmp/hg.cfm
• Center of Coastal Monitoring and Assessment
  http://ccmaserver.nos.noaa.gov/data.html
• Frequently Asked Questions about Mercury
  http://www.masgc.org/mercury/faq.pdf
  

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