The survey findings of the HEAL campaign report entitled “Halting the child brain drain: Why we need to tackle global mercury contamination”, demonstrating women’s current levels of mercury as a concrete example of low-level exposure to an environmental toxic are to be published in Women & Environments International Magazine a Canadian journal that examines women’s multiple relations to their environments.

Exposure to mercury in the diet and perhaps at work may significantly harm the health of her unborn child. Mercury has been scientifically shown to harm human health even at low doses. It is especially dangerous for the mental development of the child when exposure takes place in the womb.

The environmental health campaign by the Health and Environment Alliance and the global coalition Health Care Without Harm represents an example of a women-centred, local and global advocacy, research and information project on an important, emerging issue in women’s health. Results from the “bio monitoring” of women’s hair for mercury provided a key advocacy tool for raising awareness within the European Parliament and in the media worldwide.

A copy of the article to be published in the Winter edition Women & Environments International Magazine can be found below.