One in Ten North Shore Babies Born With High Mercury

By KBJR News 1

One in Ten North Shore Babies Born With High Mercury

February 3, 2012 Updated Feb 3, 2012 at 1:37 PM CDT

Duluth, MN (Northland's NewsCenter) --- A new report shows that one in 10 babies along Minnesota's North Shore are born with unhealthy levels of mercury.

Researchers at the Minnesota Department of Health tested 1,465 babies, including those from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

The report found that Minnesota infants were more likely to have higher levels of mercury than those in Michigan and Wisconsin.

One possible reason is that Minnesota mothers ate more fish, which is the primary source of mercury in people.

Researchers also found that babies born during the summer months had higher levels of mercury than those born during winter, since local fish consumption is highest during the summer.

Click on the following link to view the full report: http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/hazardous/topics/studies/glnpo.pdf

Posted to the web by Alyssa Kroeten

To submit a comment on this article, your email address is required. We respect your privacy and your email will not be visible to others nor will it be added to any email lists.