Portman Fights Mercury

Vegetarian, award-winning actress, and mother-to-be Natalie Portman is working with the Union of Concerned Scientists, Environment America, and a group of six mothers to form a coalition set on health reform. The group of mothers, whose professions range from actresses to scientists, wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, which is currently drafting new rules to limit mercury and other air pollutants, asking them to intensify mercury air pollution standards. Mercury can cause learning disabilities and disorders in fetuses—one in every six American women of childbearing age has an unhealthy level of mercury in their system.