January 27, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
US Plans to Thwart Global Mercury Treaty Talks, Document
Shows
Groups Urge US to Take Steps to Reduce Mercury
Releases From Largest Polluters,
Fulfill Earlier Pledge to Remain Open to Global
Talks
An internal government
document shows that the United States will attempt to thwart future talks on
mercury at an early February UN Environment Program Governing Council
meeting in Nairobi, according to advocates. Today the Ban Mercury Work
Group, a coalition of 28 nonprofit groups from around the
world, urged the US to fulfill its earlier pledge to remain open to future
treaty talks on global mercury issues.
"There was real progress made at the September UNEP Work Group meeting in Geneva, with the US agreeing that mercury was a serious global pollutant warranting international action," said Michael Bender, a Ban Hg-Wg spokesperson. "Yet this latest position more reflects the domestic "holding pattern" mercury policies of the Bush Administration. We urge the US to revise their proposal into a more open, harmonious and global approach." While the US government is proposing a very limited UNEP Mercury Unit initiative with only "voluntary" funding, the leaked document states that "we should block any attempt to move forward" on a binding mercury treaty and "strive to prevent specific references to a convention" in the anticipated Mercury Resolution expected to be adopted by UNEP Governing Council in Nairobi. The document also says that "the USG should oppose convening a formal expert or policy group meeting such s the September 2002 Mercury Working Group" and "oppose assessment of other heavy metals." This comes in apparent response to a unified December European Union position which states "…that the Member States support and actively work for concrete international actions to be initiated on mercury and its compounds, for instance a legally-binding instrument…and that global assessment of other heavy metals such as lead and cadmium shall commence." "Mercury is a toxic time bomb that must be defused by taking concrete steps, like those outlined in the EU position and in the declaration of the Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC) in Geneva in September," said Ban Hg-Wg spokesperson Bender. "We applaud the GRULAC declaration—which was supported by Denmark, Norway and Sweden—stating that a binding international treaty on mercury should be created."
Bender also said that the US could do more to reduce mercury releases from coal-fired power plants—the world’s largest mercury polluters—but that the internal US document attempts to downplay the issue. "Furthermore, for the largest anthropogenic source of mercury, coal-fired power plants, mercury emissions are just a small part of a much broader air pollution problem that many nations need to confront," states the document. Mercury is a persistent, bio-accumulative toxin that has increased at least three fold in the atmosphere and ocean over the past century, posing a risk to human health, wildlife and the ecological balance. The Food and Drug Administration and 41 states warn consumers to limit or not eat certain fish due to mercury levels and ten states advise pregnant women and children to limit consumption of canned tuna, the most consumed fish in the US. A potent neurotoxin, mercury exposures can affect the brain, kidneys and liver, and cause developmental problems. Data from the Centers for Disease Control indicates that 1-in-12 women of childbearing age have unsafe mercury levels, translating into over 300,000 children born each year in the US at risk of exposure to mercury. The UNEP Working Group met in Geneva in September 2002 and finalized the global mercury assessment report for submittal to the Governing
Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, February 3 to 7, 2003. Based on the report’s key findings, the Working Group concluded that "there was sufficient evidence of significant global adverse impacts to warrant international action to reduce the risks to human health and/or the environment arising from the release of mercury into the environment." In its September 23, 2002 meeting summary, the Working Group "stressed the need to pay particular attention to vulnerable populations subject to special (mercury) risk, namely children, pregnant women, and woman of childbearing age as well as indigenous people, communities dependent on fish as a source of food and occupational exposure when addressing the global adverse impacts of mercury." The Working Group also "emphasized that it was not necessary to have full consensus or complete evidence in order to take action and therefore potentially significant global adverse impacts should also be addressed." The Governing Council will also consider whether other heavy metals of possible global concern warrant assessments.
For more information, see:
http://www.mercurypolicy.org
http://www.chem.unep.ch/mercury
http://www.ban.org/Ban-Hg-Wg.
/SOURCE:
Mercury Policy Project
01/27/2003
/CONTACT:
Michael Bender, Mercury Policy Project,
802-223-9000,
Jim Puckett, Basel Action Network,
207-652-5555,/
/WEB SITE:
http://www.chem.unep.ch/mercury
http://www.ban.org/Ban-Hg-Wg
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