Shock as US calls for treaty on mercury reduction
The Obama administration has reversed years of US policy by calling for a treaty to cut mercury pollution, which it described as the world’s gravest chemical problem.
Daniel Reifsnyder, the deputy assistant secretary of state for environment and sustainable development, told a global gathering of environmental ministers in Nairobi, Kenya, yesterday, that the US wanted negotiations on limiting mercury to begin this year and conclude within three.
Some 6,000 tons of mercury enter the environment each year, about a third generated by power stations and coal fires. Much settles into the oceans where it enters the food chain and is concentrated in predatory fish like tuna.
Children and foetuses are particularly vulnerable to poisoning by the toxic metal, which can cause birth defects, brain damage and peeling skin.
“We’re prepared to help lead in developing a globally legally binding instrument,” Mr Reifsnyder said. “It is clear mercury is the most important global chemical issue facing us today that calls for immediate action.”
The statement represented a “180-degree turnaround” from policy under the Bush administration, said Michael Bender, co-co-ordinator of the Zero Mercury Working Group, a world coalition of 75 environmental organisations working to reduce mercury exposure.
“The change is like night and day. The Bush administration opposed any international legal agreements on mercury and President (Barack) Obama is in office less than one month and is already supporting a global agreement,” he said.
Mr Bender said his group had had more discussions over mercury control in the past two weeks than in the last eight years and that the US government included many of their ideas in the proposal presented in Nairobi.
Mercury is also widely used in chemical production and small-scale mining. The toxin can travel thousands of miles through the air or water.
The US Food and Drug Administration, a regulatory agency, advises expectant mothers to limit weekly consumption to 6oz of albacore tuna or 12oz of “light” tuna, the health effects of which are still being scientifically debated.
California authorities have been locked in a five-year legal battle to force tuna companies to paste warning labels on their product about potentially harmful mercury levels.
While substitutes exist for almost all industrial processes that require mercury, more than 50% of mercury emissions come from coal-fuelled power plants, complicating efforts to regulate it in countries that rely on coal for power.
A US-drafted proposal obtained by The Associated Press would form a negotiating committee in conjunction with the United Nations environment programme to help countries reduce their mercury use, clean up contaminated sites and find environmentally sound ways to store mercury.
The European Union has already banned mercury exports starting in 2011. The US has a similar ban that will be effective in 2013, legislation that was sponsored by Mr Obama when he was a US senator.
