Your fillings will live on after your death ... to kill the environment

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, poison to the environment. If you are cremated when you die, toxic mercury from the fillings in your teeth will pollute the air, contaminate rivers and endanger the health of those you leave behind.

Every year crematoria in Scotland belch out about 130kg of mercury, a liquid heavy metal that attacks the nervous system and can cause brain damage. But the government is planning to introduce new regulations requiring major cuts in mercury emissions.

But crematoria say they do not have the money to build mercury removal plants, and that up to a quarter of Britain's 242 crematoria, more than 20 of which are in Scotland, could be forced to close.

Environmentalists, however, say that mercury is such a toxic and long-term pollutant that measures to cut emissions are vital. One American group has even suggested pulling people's teeth before their bodies are incinerated.

For decades mercury has been in the amalgam used by dentists to fill holes caused by decay in teeth. M illions of people still have two to four grams of mercury in their mouths.

If, like 70% of people in Britain, their bodies end up being cremated, the mercury escapes into the atmosphere and contaminates waterways, soil, wildlife and food. Crematoria now contribute 11% of all the mercury released by industry and power plants, which is why they are being targeted by environmental agencies.

The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) in London, along with the English Environment Agency, the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) is reviewing mercury emissions from crematoria. The aim is to reduce emissions by tightening the guidance given under a system known as Batneec - "best available techniques not entailing excessive cost".

But the Federation of British Cremation Authorities is protesting that installing equipment to remove the mercury would cost £150 million.

The federation's Bernard McHale said there was "insufficient scientific evidence that we are causing a problem".

"Mercury is one of the world's most dangerous pollutants," said Dr Richard Dixon from Friends of the Earth Scotland. "It spreads through the environment and can cause brain damage. "

An environmental group in California, the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, has called for teeth containing mercury to be extracted before their owners are cremated. Evidence from the US Environment Protection Agency suggests that a few grams of mercury are enough to make a lake toxic to fish.

The 440,000 people cremated in Britain every year are estimated to discharge 1300kg of mercury. That means that the 40,000 or more cremated in Scotland will result in 130kg of emissions .