http://www.boston.com/dailynews/120/region/Feds_fund_study_of_mercury_pol:.shtml

Feds fund study of mercury pollution in southeastern New Hampshire

By Associated Press, 4/30/2001 02:30

DOVER, N.H. (AP) The federal government is funding a study of mercury pollution in southeastern New Hampshire to find out why the problem is so bad.

The highest mercury level found in loons anywhere in the country was measured in an egg from Mendums Pond in Barrington last year. The pond is the center of a mercury ''hot spot'' that covers all of Rockingham and much of Strafford counties.

It stretches from Rochester to Massachusetts and from Concord to Maine.

''If the loons are getting nuked, so are the people who eat fish,'' said Kate Taylor, senior biologist for the Loon Preservation Committee in Moultonboro. ''Just knowing that stuff is raining down on all of us, there's a reason to care.''

David Evers, Taylor's husband, studies the effects of mercury on loons for the BioDiversity Research Institute in Falmouth, Maine.

Starting in June, he will study mercury levels in loons, kingfishers and other wildlife in southeastern New Hampshire with the help of a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

''We're just trying to figure out why is that area so high,'' Evers said. ''This is a high priority for them.''

Mercury is a toxin that can damage the central nervous system of unborn children and infants. As it builds over time in the bodies of adults, mercury poisoning can cause a variety of problems, ranging from numbness in the hands to death.

Rising mercury levels have prompted New Hampshire to warn people since 1994 against eating too much of its freshwater fish. The mercury level in the shell of the unhatched egg from Mendums Pond was more than 3 parts per million, the established threshold at which adult loons are at risk of becoming unhealthy.

''Which is really sky high,'' Taylor said. ''That's scary.''

Loons are losing habitat to shoreline development and can die from lead poisoning when they eat lead fishing sinkers, which are now banned, but Taylor said she considers mercury an even greater threat.

''Mercury is a really nasty contaminant,'' she said. ''It has the potential to affect the bird's entire population.''

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2001