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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 7, 2008

Mercury Dangers In Fish

A research study presented at a science conference in Tampa last week found unusually high mercury levels in the flesh of nine out of 10 largemouth bass in Florida rivers. The research by the U.S. Geological Survey began in 1998 and measured mercury in 367 stream basins nationally.

This report is another reminder that Florida has studied the problem of mercury contamination for more than a decade but has done little to share this knowledge with the people at risk: women of child-bearing age and their children.

We do not need more studies to know that this is a severe health problem.

The typical Floridian eats 10 times more fish than the average American, and because of this we have much higher mercury levels in our bodies.

A 2008 published study of Pensacola women found that nearly one in five has worrisome mercury levels.

Mercury reaches our rivers, lakes and oceans from natural sources, from coal-burning electric power plants, and from some industries. The mercury is ingested by small aquatic animals which are eaten by fish, and the mercury becomes concentrated in the fish we eat. Mercury attacks the human brain, kidneys and heart in all of us, but most vulnerable are unborn fetuses and young children.

Florida has experts on mercury within the Department of Health, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, and the Fish & Wildlife Commission. Numerous state and federal studies have highlighted this problem and its serious extent in Florida.

Florida has been under statewide mercury alerts for its lakes and rivers since 2002 and for its oceans since 1993.

There are bulletins on Web sites stating how many ounces per week should be eaten of various species of fish.

But the studies show that Floridians at grocery stores, at restaurants and at fishing docks are largely unaware of the dangers.

Getting the word out is not easy because the message is not simple. Doctors know that fish is an excellent food, a terrific source of healthy proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins.

It would be bad for our health if we just stopped eating fish. How do we teach people which fish are healthy, and which may harbor toxic levels of mercury? How do we craft messages that emphasize the risks for women of child-bearing age and for young children?

We need the cooperation of our government experts with our legislators, educators, doctors, hospitals, retail stores, restaurants and utilities.

The minds of our next generation are at risk.

TODD L. SACK

Jacksonville

The writer, a physician, is chairman of the Florida Medical Association's Environment & Health Section.

City Chickens Are Pests

This is for the chicken trapper in Ybor City: If you want to trap chickens, come to Grant Park. We have a whole flock. They roost in the trees at night, and they destroy our property in the daytime. Shoo them out; they come right back. Several of the residents want them gone. Someone, please help us.

MARY WHORTON

Tampa

Early Decorations

In response to Adam Alvarez's letter (Dec. 2) over his reaction to seeing a house decked out for Christmas before it was even Thanksgiving. I have two possible explanations for decorating so early.

One, the power of suggestion. Since stores are selling their Christmas wares so early, some people feel they must do likewise and decorate their homes.

Two, it might be the fast-paced times we are living in. We want to fast-forward to the good stuff - in this case, Christmas. We feel that by pushing Christmas earlier, it would come faster.

DOUGLAS RUSSELL

Tampa

P.S. Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Bailout Money Lost

This bailout plan was intended for a good cause. It was to help out the banks that were in debt. The U.S. government got so infatuated with the plan that they forgot to implement some type of mechanism to track the funds they were providing. This is absolutely unacceptable that our own government is throwing $700 billion into our economy and cannot even figure out where half of it is going.

For a plan as big as this was, the tracking of these funds should have been a major priority in the beginning. Now our government needs to take major action to get this mess straightened out.

NICHOLAS FREEMAN

Tampa

TECO Critics Wrong

I am absolutely appalled by the column from the Tampa Bay Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility by doctors Lynn Ringenber and Donald Mellman ("Clean Up TECO Agreement," Dec. 3). My first impression was that they must be proctologists. It's clear where their heads have been for the past few years.

I am a Tampa Electric retiree since 2001 after working for 33 years in the power plants and associated areas of power production. I am in no way a spokesman for Tampa Electric or TECO Energy. However, I am prejudiced when it comes to the truth.

Tampa Electric's Big Bend Station is 100 percent coal-fired and is the only power plant in Hillsborough County that is coal-fired. All four units are fitted with electrostatic precipitators which remove particulates and scrubbers which remove sulfur dioxide. The plant is performing combustion modifications that are reducing nitrogen oxide emissions and retrofitting the units with a catalytic-converter-type apparatus that removes the carbon dioxide from the flue gas. To accomplish the last item it takes the better part of a year of construction and down time for each unit. Two units have been finished. The plumes the good doctors are concerned about are steam, water-vapor produced by the scrubbers.

Let's look at the H.L. Culbreath Bayside Station. Apparently the good doctors have not. Bayside does not burn coal, does not have scrubbers and therefore does not produce a plume. Bayside is 100 percent natural gas. The plume the doctors are seeing may be coming from the city of Tampa Garbage to Energy plant at the north end of McKay Bay. They have a scrubber.

Ringenber and Mellman try to create fear by quoting an estimate from a 2000 study. A lot has happened in eight years.

I am proud to have been a Tampa Electric employee, and I'm proud to be a Tampa Electric retiree. It really burns me to see such inaccuracies published.

JIM DAVIS

Tampa

Wrong On Amendment 2

I am totally confused by some statements Howard L. Simon made in "Living With Amendment 2" (Nov. 30). First, I admit I'm very poor at math, but Simon stated Amendment 2 passed "by a margin of 1.9 percentage points." It passed with 62 percent of the votes cast. Doesn't that mean 38 percent voted against it? Isn't that a margin of 24 percent?

Second, Simon stated, "Soon, same-sex marriage will be legal and ordinary." Hasn't every state that has had a chance to vote on it voted against it (amazingly, even California)?

Finally, Simon inferred Amendment 2 is unconstitutional, and I assume he is an expert on constitutional law.

I wonder what the framers of the Constitution - had they ever dreamed in 1780s America that this would be an issue - would have done and what they would have included in it.

BILL BRAVICK

New Port Richey

We Need Economic Hero

Our economic crisis is affecting people all over the country.

It is a problem for business owners and people living paycheck to paycheck. It is hard to find work and more and more people are being evicted from their homes. Not everyone can complain, because those with jobs such as doctors, dentists, and teachers will always be employed. There will always be a need for them because there is always a sick kid and chipped tooth.

This puts our country in an unfair situation.

Our economy is slipping quickly, and many have discussed that we could be going into another Great Depression. Our country is searching for a hero. Hopefully, President-elect Barack Obama can step in and assume that position. Obama and the Democratic Party have made a lot of promises to our nation. Let's hope they can keep them and put America back on the right track.

KATIE STRASSBERG

Tampa

Shoot Back At Terrorists

Let's assume that the terrorist attack had taken place in New York City instead of India. And let's assume for a moment that Plaxico Burris was in the restaurant in the hotel, and that he took out his pistol and returned fire and shot a couple of terrorists.

And what if some others in the restaurant would have grabbed their automatic weapons and returned fire?

I wonder how many lives it might have saved. I wonder how long before the good mayor of New York would have seen fit to prosecute Burris for having a concealed weapon in his city which is illegal.

I wonder if in planning their attacks, al-Qaida takes into consideration those locations where they know the government has taken away the private citizens right to defend themselves.

DENNIS MILLER

Lakeland

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