A study has found that 27.5 percent of women in the Commonwealth have levels of mercury that are over the Environmental Protection Agency's allowable threshold of one microgram per gram, Sierra Club spokesman Joshua Low said.
The study, released Wednesday, tested hair samples of 180 women from around the state, 40 of which were women from Charlottesville, Low said.
The study targeted women because mercury is classified as a developmental neurotoxin that is most harmful to unborn children, he said.
Mercury can cause cerebral palsy and mental retardation and can slow the onset of walking and speaking in children that are exposed to mercury as fetuses, he added.
Coal-firing plants are the largest source of unregulated mercury, Low said.
Mercury comes from impurities in coal that are released into the atmosphere during combustion, said Ralph Allen, director of the University's office of environmental health and safety.
Most coal-burning plants, including the plant located on Grounds that is used to heat University buildings, are equipped with some sort of filtering device, but they are not always fully effective for every pollutant, he added.
Once the mercury has been released into the atmosphere, it falls in rain and collects into bodies of water; fish then ingest the mercury and people ingest the fish, Low said.
"I am not surprised to see some amount of mercury in all people," Allen said.
Bodies of water are commonly found to contain mercury since its dangerous side effects were unknown for many years and its regulation is a fairly recent development, Allen said.
Mercury remains in human systems and treatment can be invasive and normally not worthwhile unless mercury levels are very high, Low said.
Second-year College student Ashley Stedholme was a participant in the survey who tested at 0.84 micrograms per gram, Low said.
The results are very close to the EPA's mercury threshold, and there is nothing that can be done to get rid of it, Stedholme said.
"I know I have to be more cautious concerning my fish consumption, because I don't want to increase my levels any further," she said.
Stedholme added that her mercury levels could become a concern should she ever decide to have a family.
Low said the Sierra Club is now working on lobbying Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine to mandate the implementation of modern technologies to reduce the amount of mercury emitted from coal burning plants.
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