Ebook When Mercury Fears Harm
The greatest risk to the health of Americans is not unsafe food, water or air, but the alarm being sounded about them. This is exemplified in the frightening scares about methylmercury (“mercury”) in fish which are becoming increasingly more exigent and sensationalized. While the fears exceed anything supportable by quality science, the resulting distress, anxiety and panic is sacrificing the health and well-being of Americans in untold ways. But the human toll is rarely enumerated.
Placing monetary or precise health costs on fears has a degree of imprecision, but the body of evidence suggesting significant harm to the public from fears, anxiety and stress is far more complete than from the hypothetical risks being alleged concerning mercury, for which there is no good scientific support. And when the toll of the proposed solutions is considered, it becomes readily apparent that these fears are being fueled with utter disregard for the safety, health and well-being of Americans.
This white paper examines the other side of the fish mercury advisories information the public rarely hears. A significant body of medical evidence has shown that today’s pervasive climate of fear and anxiety surrounding our food and health is harmful to our bodies and quality of life. The resulting physiological changes suppress our immune system and lead to more infections and delayed healing, accelerate aging and worsen chronic diseases of aging, and contribute to premature death. Those with high levels of fear, for example, had triple the fatal heart attacks and six times more sudden deaths compared to those with low levels of anxiety in a two-year study from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Fears about mercury are directed at our most vulnerable pregnant women, babies and young children but the evidence indicates they are most harmed by fears, endangering the neurological development of babies and young children and increasing risks for pregnancy complications and preterm deliveries.
Discouraging fish consumption also eliminates the health benefits from eating fish, which help reduce those very same fear-induced health concerns among adults and growing children.
The solutions being proposed to allay the overstated dangers of mercury, namely new regulations to limit power plant emissions, are the costliest of all. Multiple experts are delineating the hefty price tags for society, businesses and personal livelihoods. The financial hardships and resulting health problems and deaths will fall disproportionately onto our elderly, minorities, and the poor and working families. While scare mongers are never held accountable for the human suffering they inflict, an informed population will no doubt find the costs for all of us simply too great not to hold them accountable.
Contents
Executive Summary
Missing: The full story and accountability
- Fear is stressful
Fears keep us up at night
Fears bring gloom
Fears make us feel sick
Fears impact innocent children
Fears especially endanger expectant mothers and unborn babies 11
Fears and stress cost financially
What we lose
- Fears sacrifice healthful benefits
The most vulnerable have the most to lose
Aging adults risk more chronic diseases and early death
Losing the pleasures of the table
Solutions born of fear cost us all
Endnotes
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PDF Ebook When Mercury Fears Harm
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