Northern lawmaker call legislation “necessary to reduce poison that threatens resources and public health”
Madison-- “Mercury pollution is a significant environmental danger and long overdue legislation to ban certain products containing mercury will help reduce some of this poison that threatens our resources and public health,” State Senator Bob Jauch said Thursday.
Jauch made his remarks during a press conference with other Great Lakes lawmakers who are supporting legislation to ban the sale of certain products containing mercury. Eight states across the country and outside the Great Lakes Basin have enacted comprehensive laws to restrict the sale and use of such products.
Jauch is preparing legislation that will phase out retail sale of several products that have mercury added to them during the manufacturing process-- primarily switches, relays, measuring devices, such as thermostats and thermometers. The DNR estimates that up to 5,000 pounds of mercury is released into the environment in Wisconsin from discarded products each year.
“For 25 years we have known of the dangers of mercury and ought not be dragging our feet any longer on any solution that may remove this toxic product from our society,” Jauch said in expressing urgency for legislative action. “Mercury is extremely dangerous and most of these products end up being released into our environment and pose a hazard to our air, our drinking water and our food supply.”
“Earth Day is just around the corner,” Jauch noted. “We ought to be promoting environmental cures to toxic substances that threaten our natural resources and pose such a dangerous problem to public health. There should be no hesitation or delay to remove a poison from our shelves that jeopardize our children,” he added.
The northern lawmaker stressed that Great Lakes legislators have a special obligation to take a leadership role to push for mercury product bans. “Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes are a unique and special resource,” he noted. “Those of us representing these areas have a special responsibility to protect them. If we are successful, we will have the chance to set a national and international standard to reduce and remove mercury from the environment.”
“Water describes the Wisconsin border and defines our responsibility to protect these vital natural resources. Wisconsin has fish consumption advisories because of widespread mercury contamination and it is incumbent upon us to use our time as public officials to correct this problem and leave a safer and healthier society in the wake of our leadership,” he concluded.
