Heavy Metals:

Mercury:

INC 1:

The first session of the Intergovernment Negotiating Committee to prepare a global legally binding instrument on Mercury (INC1) 7-11 June 2010.

Mercury INC 1:

The United Nations first session of the Intergovernment Negotiating Committee to prepare a global legally binding instrument on Mercury (INC1) Stockholm 7-11 June 2010.

Brief Statement of IPEN Views of a Global Mercury Treaty:

Mercury is a substance of global concern

Fish in all regions are contaminated with mercury at levels that threaten human health and the environment; rice may also be an important pathway for mercury exposure

Mercury-contaminated fish and other foods are particularly harmful to mothers and children

Two-thirds of the mercury in the environment comes from human activities

Mercury in the environment travels long distances

Mercury is released to the environment from many sources including: mercurycontaining products and devices, product manufacturing sites, certain industrial processes, mining activities, metal refining and recycling, coal combustion, cement kilns, waste dumps and incinerators, contaminated sites, crematoria and many others

Objective, scope, and implementation

The goal of the global mercury treaty should be to protect human health, wildlife and ecosystems by eliminating anthropogenic sources of mercury

The treaty should have a broad scope and address the entire mercury life-cycle

It should recognize particularly vulnerable populations such as children, women of child bearing age, indigenous peoples, Arctic communities, island and coastal dwellers, fisherfolk, small-scale gold miners, the poor, workers, and others

The treaty should include provisions that will enable it to be expanded at a future date to also control other pollutants of similar global concern, without compromising the robustness of the mercury treaty

It should require each Party to establish and implement a National or Regional Treaty Implementation Plan; include in the plans inventories of mercury supplies, sources, releases to all media, wastes and contaminated sites

Civil society should have an active role in the development and implementation of the treaty including the opportunity to participate in the development and implementation of National or Regional Implementation Plans

The treaty should establish mechanisms for evaluating its effectiveness including global monitoring of mercury in the environment and in fish and humans

Supply

Ban primary mercury mining; mandate permanent, secure, monitored storage for existing mercury stockpiles and all mercury that is recovered from chlor-alkali plants; restrict trade in mercury generated from remaining sources

In some cases, there may be need for transition assistance and/or other aid to specific groups of workers or communities who currently depend for their livelihood on activities that release mercury to the environment

Demand

Use elimination-based control measures subject to possible limited, time-bound exemptions to phase-out all products and processes that contain or use mercury

Promote research and development on sustainable, non-toxic, alternatives to products and processes that contain or use mercury with special emphasis on addressing the needs of developing countries and countries with economies in transition

Trade

Establish effective controls on international trade in mercury and mercurycontaining products

While the treaty may recognize that mercury control and international trade law are mutually supportive, it must not contain language suggesting that its provisions are subservient to international trade law

Atmospheric emissions

Establish Best Available Techniques (BAT) and Best Environmental Practices (BEP) for coal-fired power plants, cement kilns, and other combustion processes that release mercury to the environment with an agreed schedule for its phased-in application; aim to phase-out any of these sources when good alternatives are feasible, available and affordable

Waste and contaminated sites

A mechanism should be established to identify, manage and remediate mercury contaminated sites. This may include appropriate compensation for affected workers and communities

Responsibility for mercury-related phase-outs and clean-ups should be consistent with the Polluter Pays Principle where costs are shared by responsible parties with special attention to the private sector

Awareness-raising

The treaty should provide for public information, awareness and education, especially for women, children, workers, small-scale gold miners, the poor, marginal people and the least educated. It should also provide this for indigenous peoples, Arctic communities, islanders, coastal people, fisherfolk and others who rely on fish or other mercury-contaminated foods for their nutrition

The public should receive timely access to relevant governmental and private sector data on mercury hazards, mercury sources, and alternatives to mercury-containing products

Capacity building and technical and financial assistance

Establish an adequately funded and predictable financial mechanism with new and additional resources sufficient to enable developing countries and countries with economies in transition to fulfill their treaty obligations without compromising their poverty reduction goals

Establish mechanisms for capacity-building and technology transfer

Compliance

Establish effective monitoring, reporting, and review mechanisms to promote transparency and ensure compliance with treaty obligations

IPEN Mercury INC 1 Opening Statement

Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith, IPEN Co-chair
7 June 2010

Thank you Chair; and our thanks to all who have made this meeting possible.

I speak on behalf of the over 700 participating organizations of the International POPs Elimination Network, a public interest NGO network with representation in over 100 countries.

IPEN is committed to a broad, comprehensive and effective mercury treaty that will ultimately eliminate all sources of anthropogenic mercury and ensure the protection of human health, the environment and the human rights of Indigenous Peoples and vulnerable populations.

The mercury treaty is more than just a series of technical challenges. There are complex social, cultural and labour dynamics that must be addressed. Mercury is not a substance that exists in isolation. It is deeply intertwined with issues of poverty and development and negotiators will need to be creative to address mercury and its related problems. In some cases, there may even be need for transitional assistance or aid to workers or communities who currently depend on activities that release mercury to the environment.

We cannot be satisfied with a minimal or 'bare bones' treaty. This is a substance that contaminates the main protein source of 2/3 of the world's population. Hence, we need a treaty that addresses all aspects of mercury’s lifecycle including wastes, end of life products and the remediation of contaminated sites. Most importantly, we need to ensure access to information about mercury is open, transparent and free of costs.

We also believe that the treaty should include provisions that will enable it to be expanded at a future date to also control other pollutants of similar global concern, without compromising the robustness of the mercury treaty.

We must succeed at this task, as we cannot ignore the needs of vulnerable children working in the poisonous atmosphere of small scale gold mines, or the mother who must eat contaminated fish knowing that it is causing irreparable damage to her unborn child or even the rural worker forced to spray outmoded toxic mercuric fungicides. We cannot dismiss the serious global impacts of mercury emissions from the thousands of coal fired power stations pouring out their toxic mercury byproducts.

Unless we act now the growing legacy of mercury contamination will rob our children and future generations of their intellectual potential; their health and their right to a clean mercury free environment.

The NGOs that make up IPEN stand willing and able to participate fully, be it through technical expertise, information provision or outreach and public awareness-raising. Together we can develop and implement a mercury treaty that will protect all of us, our descendants and the environment and life support systems on which we all depend.

end:

Mercury-contaminated fish served to delegates at UN mercury negotiation

PRESS RELEASE For immediate release: 7 June 2010

Contact: Imogen Ingram, mobile: +612 668 15340
Jamidu Katima, mobile: +255 787 7171 02
Mariann Lloyd-Smith, mobile: +612 668 15340

Mercury-contaminated fish served to delegates at UN mercury negotiation
Delegates must address a poisoned food source

(Stockholm, Sweden) - Delegates at the first UN negotiating meeting for a global mercury treaty tasted fish under public advisory for mercury contamination. At lunch time, the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) distributed more than 200 tasty samples of perch that is so contaminated the Swedish National Food Administration recommends eating it only two - three times per year for women who are trying to conceive a baby, are pregnant, or breastfeeding.

“We want the delegates to confront the mercury treaty negotiations from a fish-eaters point of view,” said Imogen Ingram, Island Sustainability Alliance based in the Cook Islands. “That means acting to protect our children and billions of people who rely on fish for food.”

Globally, fish is a major source of human exposure to mercury and a vital source of food. According to the UN, fish provides at least 40% of protein for two-thirds of the world’s population, including most of the world’s poor.^[1] Cooking or removing the skin does not remove mercury. Mercury is highly toxic, especially to the developing brain. The nervous system damage is irreversible.

“Most of the world is not aware of this treaty negotiation, so we are bringing the world situation to the negotiators.” said Professor Jamidu Katima, IPEN Co-Chair based in Tanzania. “The world needs a treaty that makes fish safe to eat by eliminating all human sources of mercury.”

Mercury is transformed into methyl mercury by micro-organisms in the environment. Methyl mercury then accumulates up the food chain as larger fish eat smaller ones. Due to long-range transport high mercury levels are observed in the Arctic, far from the sources of any significant releases. This makes mercury contamination a global issue.

Mercury is released to the environment from many sources including: coal combustion, mining activities, mercury-containing products and devices, product manufacturing sites, metal refining and recycling, cement kilns, waste dumps and incinerators, contaminated sites, crematoria and many others.

IPEN – Is a global network of more then 700 public interest organizations from over 100 countries working for the elimination of toxic substances threatening current and future generations.
For more information about IPEN’s Mercury Free Campaign see: www.ipen.org/hgfree

[1] Commodities Atlas: Fishery Products, UNCTAD – UN Conference on Trade and Development

Photo credit Faye Ferrer.
IPEN distributed more than 200 samples of perch to delegates in Sweden at the United Nations’ first international negotiating committee meeting for a global mercury treaty (HgINC1) in order to highlight the global problem of mercury contamination in fish.

Slideshow of the IPEN Fish Action.

SSNC and IPEN Mercury Hair Sampling

Hair sampling of government delegates and other HgINC1 participants to test for mercury levels and raise awareness about the very serious and pervasive international mercury contamination problem.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) and the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) conducted an analysis of human hair samples as part a global Mercury-Free Campaign, to raise awareness about mercury levels among delegates and the public at the first Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC1) for the Mercury Treaty.
We tested negotiators from 40 countries and found mercury levels between 93 ug/kg and 2956 ug/kg. More than one-third of the samples exceeded the US National Research Council mercury reference dose of 1000 ug/kg. Surprisingly, average mercury levels in people from developing and transition countries were twice the levels measured in delegates from developed countries. The difference was statistically significant.

SSNC and IPEN Mercury Hair Sampling Report:

Hair sampling at INC1 Press Release. Mercury treaty negotiators tested for mercury. The survey shows human contamination by mercury.
  IPEN Press Release  50KB.

  IPEN Press Release  Chinese 124KB.

SSNC and IPEN Mercury Hair Sampling Report for downloading.
  Hair Sampling Analysis Report  852KB.

   Hair Sampling Analysis Report in Japanese  Japanese version of the IPEN / SSNC hair analysis report, translated by Citizens Against Chemicals Pollution (CACP)

NGO INC1. Interventions:

  Intervention on Storage  18KB.

   Intervention on Awareness Raising and Scientific Information Exchange  9KB.

   Intervention on the name Minamata Convention  12KB.

   Intervention on the Statement on Waste  73KB.

   Intervention on Emission from Coal Power Plants IPEN Statement on Atmospheric Emission from Coal Power Plant and Cement Kilns, by Yuyun Ismawati.  16KB.

   Intervention on Air Emissions  58KB.

   Intervention on Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining  8KB.

   Intervention on Compliance  8KB.

   Intervention on the Financial Mechanisms  12KB.

   Intervention on Awareness-raisinga IPEN intervention about NGO involvement in public awareness-raising and the hair sampling done on INC1 delegates.  10KB.

   Intervention on Essential Uses  8KB.

   Joint ZMWG and IPEN statement on the structure of the Treaty  8KB.

   Joint ZMWG and IPEN Final Statement  36KB.

NGO INC1 Power Point Presentation:

Power Point Presentation on Minamata and Mercury Issues in Japan
This thirty slide presentation in English covers:
1. Overview of Mercury Issues in Japan
2. Minamata Disease
3. Campaign for Japan’s Mercury Export Ban
4. Some Data for Mercury in Japan
5. Whale-eating Town, Taiji

Link

INC1. Media Reports:

"Mercury found in hairs of treaty negotiators"
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=7&sid=&nid=7&rid=281286

MANILA, June 13 (PNA) -- A hair monitoring test involving delegates, including a senior Filipino environment official, at an intergovernmental meeting to negotiate for a new mercury control treaty has affirmed mercury contamination in humans.

At the UN meeting held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 7-11, hair samples were collected from 45 government delegates from 40 countries, including the Philippines, eight representatives of NGOs and indigenous peoples, four Swedish politicians, and one Swedish Olympic athlete.

Organized by the International POPs Elimination Network and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, the hair test generated broader awareness among delegates about mercury levels in the body and drew media attention to the global mercury treaty.

“The survey illustrates the need to tackle the mercury problem because mercury is present in all of us and it shouldn’t be a part of our bodies! To eliminate all sources of mercury, I and the Swedish government want an effective global legally binding instrument on mercury in place soon,” said Andreas Carlgren, Swedish Environment Minister, one of the hair test participants.

“The test results only reinforce the need for collaborative efforts, locally and globally, to control mercury pollution from human activities and protect our environment, our food supply and our bodies from such a toxic threat. As a fish-eating nation, we have so much at stake in pursuing a treaty that will safeguard our marine staple foods,” said lawyer Juan Miguel Cuna, director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), another hair test participant.

The survey found mercury in all of the 58 hair test participants. The amount of mercury in hair provides an estimate of methylmercury in the body. Fish consumption is the main way people are exposed to methylmercury, which is toxic to human health.

The survey found mercury levels between 93 ug/kg and 2,956 ug /kg. More than one-third of the samples exceeded the US National Research Council mercury reference dose of 1,000 ug/kg. The reference dose is a level set for pregnant women to avoid adverse fetal brain development effects.

Surprisingly, average mercury levels in people from developing and transition countries were twice the levels measured in delegates from developed countries. The difference was statistically significant.

Globally, fish is a major source of human exposure to mercury and a vital source of food. According to the UN, fish provides at least 40 percent of protein for two-thirds of the world’s population, including most of the world’s poor. Cooking or removing the skin does not remove mercury. Mercury is highly toxic, especially to the developing brain. The nervous system damage is irreversible.

Mercury is transformed into methyl mercury by micro-organisms in the environment. Methyl mercury then accumulates up the food chain as larger fish eat smaller ones. Due to long-range transport, high mercury levels are observed in the Arctic, far from the sources of any significant releases. This makes mercury contamination a global issue.

Mercury is released to the environment from many sources including coal combustion, mining activities, mercury-containing products and devices, product manufacturing sites, metal refining and recycling, cement kilns, waste dumps and incinerators, contaminated sites, crematoria and many others. (PNA) RMA/PR/rsm

Mercury level in humans detected through hair test
Manilla Bulletin Publishing Corporation
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/261920/mercury-level-humans-detected-through-hair-test
By ELLALYN B. DE VERA
June 13, 2010, 6:32pm

A hair monitoring organized by international green groups among 45 delegates of a United Nations-led Mercury Conference in Sweden last week affirmed that there is mercury contamination in humans.

Organized by the International POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) Elimination Network and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, the hair test generated broader awareness among delegates about mercury levels in the body and drew media attention to the global mercury treaty.

At the UN meeting that aims to limit the use of mercury held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 7-11, hair samples were collected from 45 government delegates from 40 countries, including the Philippines, eight representatives of NGOs and indigenous peoples, four Swedish politicians, and one Swedish Olympic athlete.

The survey found mercury in all of the 58 hair test participants.

Local green group EcoWaste Coalition explained that the amount of mercury in hair provides an estimate of methylmercury in the body.

It added that fish consumption is the main way people are exposed to methylmercury, which is toxic to human health.

Mercury is released to the environment from many sources, including coal combustion, mining activities, mercury-containing products and devices, product manufacturing sites, metal refining and recycling, cement kilns, waste dumps and incinerators, contaminated sites, and crematoria, among others.

The survey found mercury levels between 93 ug/kg and 2956 ug/kg. More than one-third of the samples exceeded the US National Research Council mercury reference dose of 1000 ug/kg.

The reference dose is a level set for pregnant women to avoid adverse fetal brain development effects.

It also noted that average mercury levels in people from developing and transition countries were twice the levels measured in delegates from developed countries.

“The survey illustrates the need to tackle the mercury problem because mercury is present in all of us and it shouldn’t be a part of our bodies! To eliminate all sources of mercury, I and the Swedish government want an effective global legally binding instrument on mercury in place soon,” Andreas Carlgren, Swedish Environment Minister, one of the hair test participants, said.

“The test results only reinforce the need for collaborative efforts, locally and globally, to control mercury pollution from human activities and protect our environment, our food supply and our bodies from such a toxic threat. As a fish-eating nation, we have so much at stake in pursuing a treaty that will safeguard our marine staple foods,” said Juan Miguel Cuna, director of the Philippines’ Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), another hair test participant.

According to the UN, globally, fish is a major source of human exposure to mercury and a vital source of food.

EcoWaste said fish provides at least 40 percent of protein for two-thirds of the world’s population, including most of the world’s poor.

“Cooking or removing the skin does not remove mercury. Mercury is highly toxic, especially to the developing brain. The nervous system damage is irreversible,” EcoWaste said.

“Mercury is transformed into methyl mercury by micro-organisms in the environment. Methyl mercury then accumulates up the food chain as larger fish eat smaller ones. Due to long-range transport, high mercury levels are observed in the Arctic, far from the sources of any significant releases. This makes mercury contamination a global issue,” it added.

Mercury detected in hair of UN treaty delegates
Chemical Watch- http://chemicalwatch.com/3906
Briefing Business on REACH and Chemical Risks
11-Jun-2010

Tests conducted by two NGOs found that mercury was present in the hair of delegates currently in Stockholm at a meeting which starts three years of negotiations for a UN treaty on mercury controls.

The International POPs Elimination Network and Swedish Society for Nature Conservation took hair samples from 45 delegates from 40 countries and found mercury in all of them. More than a third of the samples exceeded the US National Research Council mercury reference dose set for pregnant women to avoid adverse fetal brain development effects.

The amount of mercury in hair provides an estimate of methylmercury, which is toxic to human health, in the body. Fish consumption is the main way people are exposed to methylmercury. Average mercury levels in people from developing and transition countries, where many people rely on fish for food, were twice the levels measured in delegates from developed countries.

World People.com - Hair sampling action at INC1.
  Link

HgINC1 Summary Reports:

  INC1 Summary Report in Chinese, by the Global Village of Beijing.

  LinkINC1 Summary Report in Japanese by CACP.

  Version: August 2010