Around the world, low-income women are exposed to high amounts of mercury, thanks to mining and marine-based diets, says a report from IPEN, a nonprofit focused on global health and toxic chemicals, and Biodiversity Research Institute, an ecology research organization.
Of the 1,0444 women studied from 25 developing countries, 42 percent had average mercury levels above the EPA threshold in their hair samples. Much of the toxicity stemmed from gold mines in places like Indonesia and Myanmar. But diet was also a key contributor to the problem.
In the Pacific Islands, where coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources contaminate fish — a key part of the local diet — 86 percent of women had high mercury levels, explains NPR. Likewise, in Alaska, where many Native women consume seal meat and other marine staples, 30 percent of participants had elevated mercury levels.
While mercury can hurt the lungs, kidneys and neurological system, it’s especially risky to the fetal brain. “You get just one chance,” says Joseph Graziano, professor of environmental health sciences and pharmacology at Columbia University. “When the damage is done (to the baby’s brain), the damage is done and there’s no going back.”
Mercury pollution doesn’t respect political boundaries. The chemical is capable of traveling thousands of miles, so even if a woman doesn’t live near a coal-plant, she could be poisoned by one, says NPR.