Tell the chlorine industry to stop using toxic mercuryAlthough coal-fired power plants are the most notorious source of toxic mercury pollution to our lakes, streams and oceans, the chemical industry is just as bad.

Even though non-mercury technology is widely available, a handful of chemical companies in the United States still use an outdated mercury process to make chlorine gas and lye, which are then used to make paper products, detergents, soaps and plastics.

NRDC has tested the air around some of these plants and found very high levels of mercury pollution. Much of this toxic substance winds up in our air and water and, eventually, in the fish that ends up on our dinner tables or in our tuna sandwiches. Once it's in our bodies, mercury can limit normal brain activity and nervous system functions.

It is especially dangerous for developing infants and small children and can cause decreased motor skills and learning disabilities at even low levels of exposure.== What to do ==Send a message urging the chlorine industry to completely eliminate mercury from its manufacturing process.

== Contact information ==

You can send a message to the president of the Chlorine Institute directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action/. Or use the contact information and sample letter below to send your own message.

If you'd like do even more to help drive home the point that Americans want mercury out of our tuna and other fish that we eat, please send a can or pouch of tuna to the president of the Chlorine Institute at the address below.

Please include a brief handwritten note (example: "Help get mercury out of my tuna fish by getting mercury out of your chlorine plants!").Art Dungan, PresidentThe Chlorine Institute1300 Wilson BoulevardArlington, VA 22209Fax: 703-741-6068

Email: adungan@ci2.com==

Sample letter ==

Subject: Eliminate mercury from all U.S. chlorine plants

Dear Mr. Dungan,

The Chlorine Institute, a 210-member trade association, has allowed rampant mercury pollution by six U.S. member companies that insist on relying on dirty and dangerous mercury technology even though mercury-free technology is available and used widely here in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

Chlorine plants that use mercury are among the world's largest sources of mercury contamination. Air quality tests around these plants show extremely high mercury levels at most of them.It's time for the entire chlorine industry to enter the 21st century and eliminate mercury from the chlorine manufacturing process.

I urge you to deny Chlorine Institute membership to any company that will not commit to conversion away from mercury.

Sincerely,[Your name and address]