Blog 5: Mercury Agreement

Mercury is one of the most potent of the many toxic heavy metals that come from the emissions of coal-fired power plants. If just one-seventieth of a teaspoon enters a lake every year, it is enough to raise mercury levels in the fish. The technology to filter mercury and other toxic heavy metals from power-plant smokestacks is widely available and, in fact, some plants already have it in place. Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temp, and we have used it in many medicinal treatments. But it is becoming a problem once more that is slowly poisoning children and young adults all around the globe.

UN talks in Geneva have yielded a global treaty that controls the use of mercury, with the objective of reducing the amount of the toxic metal released into the environment. Delegates from more than 140 countries agreed limits on the supply of and trade in mercury, and the use of the substance in products and industrial processes. There was particular focus on measures to be taken to reduce mercury emissions from small-scale gold mining, and power plants and metal production facilities.
 
A growth in small-scale gold mining due to rising gold prices has seen an increase in emissions over the past few years, particularly in South-East Asia. Once emitted, mercury sticks around for a long time - circulating through a number of natural cycles in the air, water and soil. UN Environment Program spokesman Nick Nuttall told Reuters: "A treaty to start to begin to rid the world of a notorious health-hazardous metal was agreed in the morning of 19 January." The treaty, named the Minamata Convention after a Japanese town that experienced severe mercury poisoning in the 50s and 60s, will be signed into international law in late 2013 and take effect immediately.

http://rt.com/news/mercury-un-convention-pollution-327/

Ryan Lindquist
3:58 PM
3/1/13