Considering how long we have known about their dangers, toxic heavy metals remain an astonishingly widespread threat. The stories are in Slow Death by Rubber Duck. The numbers are starting to show up (for mercury, cadmium and lead in blood across Canada) in the Canadian Health Measures Survey. And the more data we have, the more questions it raises: Why do women have heavier loads of mercury than men? Why do baby boomers have more mercury in their blood than our parents or children? How much does mercury increase the risk of Alzheimer’s? And is there anything we can do to get it out of our bodies now?
According to Environment Canada, the mercury, at least, primarily blows in from abroad. We still need to worry, “What have they done to the rain?”