In a letter dated January 15, 2010, the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform requests the EPA to prepare a plan which will “reevaluate and update its own mercury emissions factors for wastewater sludge incineration and crematoria, and establish mercury emissions factors for: sludge that is landfilled or spread on agricultural or forest land, or that is dried before it is used as fertilizer; infectious and hazardous waste; general municipal waste; human respiration; waste removed as grit and fines at wastewater treatment plants and disposed of in a variety of ways, and combined sewer overflows.”

A copy of the letter: 2010-01-15congressional-requesthg-emissions-from-dental-amalgamkucinich

Click here for a copy of the House Staff Report on Dental Mercury Emissions.

The Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals is the most comprehensive assessment to date of the exposure of the U.S. population to chemicals in our environment. CDC has measured 212 chemicals in people’s blood or urine—75 of which have never before been measured in the U.S. population. The new chemicals include acrylamide, arsenic, environmental phenols, including bisphenol A and triclosan, and perchlorate.

The blood and urine samples were collected from participants in CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which is an ongoing survey that samples the U.S. population every two years. Each two year sample consists of about 2,400 persons. The Fourth Report includes findings from national samples for 1999–2000, 2001–2002, and 2003–2004. The data are analyzed separately by age, sex and race/ethnicity groups.

The full report, as well as an executive summary, may be found at http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/