Environment Ministers Call for Action on Mercury

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Environment Ministers Call for Action on Mercury

By Cat Lazaroff

NAIROBI, Kenya, February 10, 2003 (ENS) - The delegates attending last week's

international meeting on environmental governance agreed to crack down on

sources of mercury emissions around the globe. But objections from the U.S.

delegation prevented the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment

Programme from adopting binding limits on emissions from power plants and other

major mercury sources.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) agreed to begin the process of

helping nations devise methods of reducing their mercury emissions. The mercury

decision followed discussions of a global assessment report, compiled by UNEP

and other experts and presented to delegates earlier in the week, which

highlighted the threat to humans and wildlife from this persistent, toxic heavy

metal.

Incinerators like this one in Chicago, Illinois can release mercury from

medical waste and other sources (Photo courtesy Lake Michigan Federation)Last

year, the UNEP Global Mercury Assessment Working Group, an assembly of about 150

experts, concluded that " there is sufficient evidence of significant global

adverse impacts to warrant international action to reduce the risks to human

health and the environment arising from the release of mercury into the

environment. "

Delegates to last week's meeting supported that conclusion, and called for

action to reduce mercury emissions. But the United States delegation lobbied

successfully to block the adoption of a binding protocol limiting uses of

mercury.

Under the action plan reached at the meeting, UNEP has been asked to assist all

countries, particularly developing nations and countries with economies in

transition such as the former states of the Soviet Union, in a wide ranging

initiative to cut emissions of mercury from major sources such as coal fired

power stations and incinerators.

The agency's measures may include advising countries on cleaner coal methods,

improving the efficiency of power stations, and advice and help on switching to

other forms of electricity generation including renewable power sources such as

wind and solar power. Assisting countries on reducing other sources and causes

of mercury pollution, including contaminated waste sites, dental amalgams and

equipment, will also be part of the plan.

The agreement also calls for UNEP to help develop public awareness programs to

alert the public to the risks of mercury exposure, particularly to vulnerable

groups such as pregnant women and babies, and workers and communities involved

in small scale gold and silver mining.

UNEP Executive Director Klaus Töpfer (Photo courtesy Earth Negotiations

Bulletin) " We have been meeting to make the Plan of Implementation, agreed five

months ago at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), operational, "

noted Klaus Töpfer, executive director of UNEP. " In Johannesburg, it was agreed

that by 2020 chemicals should be used and produced in ways that minimize

significant adverse effects on human health and the environment. This decision

on mercury sets us on course for delivering that in respect of one of the most

worrying heavy metals. "

Some nations, particularly the European delegation, wanted more decisive action

regarding mercury. Along with representatives of environmental groups, the

European delegates called for the drafting of an international protocol that

would limit the uses of mercury.

But the U.S. delegation opposed such action, arguing that such international

agreements take too long and cost too much to negotiate. Under the Bush

administration, the U.S. has opposed or withdrawn from a variety of

international environmental pacts, including the Kyoto Protocol on global

climate change.

An internal U.S. document leaked to a mercury watchdog group last week

instructed the U.S. delegates to resist calls for international limits on

mercury releases or other mandatory measures aimed at reducing the risk of

mercury exposure. The deliberative document called for U.S. negotiators to

oppose the adoption of language that would lead to an international convention

on mercury, or even require further meetings on the topic.

U.S. officials were advised to support the creation of a mercury program within

the UNEP Chemicals Division, " for the purpose of facilitating and conducting

technical assistance and capacity building activities to support the efforts of

countries to take action regarding mercury pollution. " That was the course of

action the negotiators ultimately agreed upon.

On the global mercury assessment, the European Union and Norway supported a

legally binding instrument, while the U.S., Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic

and Mexico, opposed it. (Photo courtesy Earth Negotiations Bulletin)The European

delegation was able to require the adoption of language that opens the door to

possible future negotiations on a binding mercury treaty. But the next occasion

for such talks will be a follow up meeting to be held in South Korea in 2005.

Critics of the delay in more definitive action argue that the dangers of mercury

are too great to ignore. The UNEP report on mercury found that pollution by the

hazardous heavy metal is far more widespread and pervasive than previously

believed.

" Mercury is a substance that can be transported in the atmosphere and in the

oceans around the globe, traveling hundreds and thousands of miles from where it

is emitted, " said Töpfer. " This new report, requested from UNEP by governments

two years ago, shows that the global environmental threat to humans and wildlife

has not receded despite reductions in mercury discharges, particularly in

developed countries. Indeed it shows that the problems remain and appear, in

some situations to be worsening as demand for energy, the largest source of

human made mercury emissions, climbs. "

Mercury poisoning of the planet could be best reduced by curbing pollution from

power stations, the report suggests. The report, compiled by an international

team of experts, says that coal fired power stations and waste incinerators now

account for around 1,500 tons or 70 percent of new, quantified manmade mercury

emissions to the atmosphere.

Coal burning power plants send hundreds of pounds of mercury into the air each

year. (Two photos by Carole Swinehart, courtesy Michigan Sea Extension)The

lion's share is now coming from developing countries with emissions from Asia,

at 860 tons, the highest.

" As combustion of fossil fuels is increasing in order to meet the growing energy

demands of both developing and developed nations, mercury emissions can be

expected to increase accordingly in the absence of the deployment of control

technologies or the use of alternative energy sources, " the report says.

" There are many compelling scientific, environmental and health arguments for

curbing pollution linked with energy production. The mercury report gives us

another compelling reason to reduce society's dependence on carbon intensive

energy supplies, " added Töpfer.

The Bush administration has resisted calls for mandatory reductions in power

plant emissions, calling instead for more research and for voluntary steps to

cut air pollution from the energy sector.

The U.S. delegation opposed forming a legally binding instrument on mercury.

(Photo courtesy Earth Negotiations Bulletin)A study of women in the United

States, cited in the UNEP report, has found that about one in 12, or just under

five million have mercury levels in their bodies above the level considered safe

by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Just three years ago, the U.S. Research Council estimated that about 60,000

babies born each year in the U.S. could be at risk of brain damage with possible

impacts ranging from learning difficulties to impaired nervous systems. However,

based on more recent exposure data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, some scientists think the number of at risk babies could

be as high as 300,000.

Globally the number could run into the millions. Once in the atmosphere, this

hazardous heavy metal can travel hundreds and thousands of miles, contaminating

places far away from the world's sites where the pollution was originally

discharged.

Children who are exposed to mercury in utero may suffer damage to their brains

and nervous systems, affecting language, attention and memory (Photo by Ken

Hammond, courtesy USDA)Animals such as otter, mink, osprey, eagles, seals and

some whales that rely on fish as a large part of their diet, have the highest

mercury levels of all affected animals. The eggs of certain Canadian birds, such

as Leach's storm petrel, Atlantic puffin and northern fulmars, have mercury

levels that threaten reproduction, the report says.

Mercury levels in Arctic ringed seals and beluga whales have increased by up to

four times over the last 25 years in some areas of Canada and Greenland.

" Mercury is a huge problem, a traveler without a passport, that spreads around

the world in air and water, " concluded Töpfer. " Action is necessary. We have to

reduce drastically and as soon as possible the risk it poses to a lot of

people. "

 

 

 

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