EPA Distorted Mercury Analysis, GAO Says

[rodeodance]

newspaper article follows this short summary
Can you believe it!! The EPA--the fed. agency that is suspose to be protecting our health is actually distorting the numbers so the WH can "look good" Where is the OUTRAGE!!


http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=83210

EPA COOKS THE BOOKS:

According to a new study by the GAO, the Environmental Protection Agency has been cooking the books. The EPA got caught twisting its analysis to make it seem like President Bush's industry-friendly plan to allow dirty power plants to trade mercury pollution credits would reduce pollution better than plans backed by environmentalists. The agency used tricky math and "dubious" accounting methods to conceal the deep flaws in the White House plan in order to make it more appetizing to Congress. In its report, however, the GAO exposed the EPA's dishonesty, charging that the agency "failed to fully document the toxic impact of mercury on brain development, learning, and neurological functioning."

Above clickable leads to this story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15244-2005Mar7.html

EPA Distorted Mercury Analysis, GAO Says

By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 8, 2005; Page A09

The Environmental Protection Agency distorted the analysis of its controversial proposal to regulate mercury pollution from power plants, making it appear that the Bush administration's market-based approach was superior to a competing scheme supported by environmentalists, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said yesterday.

Rebuking the agency for a lack of "transparency," the report said the EPA had failed to fully document the toxic impact of mercury on brain development, learning, and neurological functioning. The GAO urged that these problems be rectified before the EPA takes final action on the rule.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy asked the GAO to review the mercury plan. (Chris Kleponis--Bloomberg News)

The analysis follows a critical report by the EPA's inspector general that suggested that agency scientists had been pressured to back the approach preferred by industry.......

[Lindacooks]

1. Evil!! They're pure evil!!!

from the eighth dimension! And I'm not kidding!

[MetaTrope]

14. not the eighth dimension...

[leftofthedial]

2. the bushturds

same liars who bring you the economic statistics

and the casualty numbers

[buddysmellgood]

3. Headline: Republicans Aborting Babies with Mercury

That should be the headline.

[etherealtruth]

4. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin...

fetuses and the very young may suffer significant loss of IQ related to exposure .. my thought: the repub's are counting on this in order to recruit new repub voters--- hey, makes sense to me.

[indepat]

5. Nah, they wouldn't lie would they? Please tell me they wouldn't lie.

[AtLiberty]

6. No surprise here --

Americans were told by the EPA that the air quality at Ground Zero was safe following 9-11 to go along with Bush's "Don't Let Terrorism Win" campaign. Independent tests revealed a much different story. Asbestos levels alone were off the charts miles away from WTC site.

[CitySky]

7. EPA = Environmental Propaganda Agency? n/t

[Warpy]

8. Thank gawd for Patrick Leahy

he makes me proud to be Irish. He's one of the few in the Senate who is still sticking his neck out for the rest of us, even AFTER he was poisoned with anthrax.

[rodeodance]

9. will anything come of these horrible findings?

[NNguyenMD]

10. godbless the GAO, who appoints the people who work there? Not the shrub?

god help us if he ever has that power one day.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

11. Remember how they said that the mercury in vaccines

was not doing any harm to children??? Well then, WTF is this article all about???

Absolutely frigging unreal. THIS SAYS IN PLAIN ENGLISH, NEUROTOXICITY... SO, MY QUESTION IS... WHO IS HAVING THIS NEUROTOXICITY ANY FRIGGING HOW???? I NEED A DRINK... MAKE IT A THIMERASOL LIGHT.

1: Neurotoxicology. 2005 Jan;26(1):1-8. Related Articles, Links

Thimerosal neurotoxicity is associated with glutathione depletion: protection with glutathione precursors.

James SJ, Slikker W 3rd, Melnyk S, New E, Pogribna M, Jernigan S.

Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, AR 72202, USA. [e-mail]

Thimerosol is an antiseptic containing 49.5% ethyl mercury that has been used for years as a preservative in many infant vaccines and in flu vaccines. Environmental methyl mercury has been shown to be highly neurotoxic, especially to the developing brain. Because mercury has a high affinity for thiol (sulfhydryl (-SH)) groups, the thiol-containing antioxidant, glutathione (GSH), provides the major intracellular defense against mercury-induced neurotoxicity.

Cultured neuroblastoma cells were found to have lower levels of GSH and increased sensitivity to thimerosol toxicity compared to glioblastoma cells that have higher basal levels of intracellular GSH. Thimerosal-induced cytotoxicity was associated with depletion of intracellular GSH in both cell lines.

Pretreatment with 100 microM glutathione ethyl ester or N-acetylcysteine (NAC), but not methionine, resulted in a significant increase in intracellular GSH in both cell types. Further, pretreatment of the cells with glutathione ethyl ester or NAC prevented cytotoxicity with exposure to 15 microM Thimerosal.


Although Thimerosal has been recently removed from most children's vaccines, it is still present in flu vaccines given to pregnant women, the elderly, and to children in developing countries. The potential protective effect of GSH or NAC against mercury toxicity warrants further research as possible adjunct therapy to individuals still receiving Thimerosal-containing vaccinations.

PMID: 15527868

[LdyGuique]

12. As Robert F Kennedy, Jr was saying before the election,

"the Bush Administration has the worst environmental record of all time." He was very concerned about Mercury poisoning, as have been a whole host of scientists. Autism rates have been rising rapidly and are now at 1 out of 166 births. Additional mercury poisoning in children who avoided being birth defective as suffering similar symptoms to autism.

Hopefully, this will cause the issue to reopen.

[struggle4progress]

13. kick