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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 26, 1992                   TAG: 9201260066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MIAMI                                LENGTH: Short

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RESEARCH: EVERGLADES POISONED BY MERCURY

Man and nature have combined to poison the Everglades with toxic mercury, threatening humans and chasing wildlife from the River of Grass in south-central Florida, research suggests.

Environmentalists, scientists and government officials caution that they have far to go in explaining deadly levels of mercury in Florida's wetlands.

But studies presented at a mercury conference last week point to man-made draining and flooding in the Everglades coupled with airborne mercury pollution and the area's unique biology.

In large enough quantities, mercury causes brain damage and death in adults. Much smaller amounts can harm fetuses.

Humans are Earth's most susceptible victims, says Thomas Clarkson, director of environmental health at the University of Rochester.

"There is something about the human brain, the primate brain, that attracts mercury," he said.

While humans are more sensitive, all mammals are affected by mercury, including the endangered Florida panther. At least one panther is believed to have died from toxic amounts of mercury.

Sharp decline in wading birds in South Florida could be another result of increasing amounts of mercury found in the fish and shellfish they feed upon, scientists said.

How mercury gets into the animals is complicated and still controversial, but a growing body of research puts the region's absorbent peat soil at the center of the process.

Peat is a "giant sink" that absorbs mercury, whether released by man or nature, said Duke University researcher Curt Richardson.

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