January 26th, 2011
Mercury INC 2 convened for its second day on Tuesday 25 January, 2011, in Chiba, Japan.
During the morning plenary, delegates initiated discussion on the elements paper (UNEP(DTIE)/Hg/INC.2/3) offering comments element-by-element. Throughout the morning and afternoon delegates made interventions on: Article 1, Objective; Article 2, Definitions; and Article 3, Mercury supply sources. Due to their close relationship: Article 4, environmentally sound storage; Article 12, mercury wastes; and Article 13, contaminated sites, were grouped and addressed as a cluster. Delegates then discussed Article 9, artisanal and small scale gold mining (ASGM).
Delegates established two contact groups which met in the evening. The contact group on the storage and waste cluster was co-chaired by Katerina Sebkova (Czech Republic) and Abiola Olanipekun (Nigeria). The contact group on ASGM was co-chaired by Donald Hannah (New Zealand) and Felipe Ferreira (Brazil).
January 26th, 2011
The IISD Reporting Services has provided a summary of highlights for Monday, 24 January 2011. Please visit their webpage to obtain coverage of INC2.
January 26th, 2011
The second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to prepare a global legally binding instrument on Mercury (INC2) is currently underwat in Chiba, Japan from 24 to 28 January, 2011. See the UNEP Mercury website for technical briefing and meeting documents.
October 30th, 2010
Two new restrictions concerning mercury have recently been proposed under the European chemicals regulation REACH (EC No 1907/2006). In particular they concern mercury in measuring devices and Phenylmercury compounds. Restriction reports containing the background information and justifications for the restrictions have been prepared and are currently undergoing a public consultation. Any interested parties are invited to send in their comments on the suggested restrictions and the restriction reports via the ECHA website:
Deadline for comments is 24/03/2011
September 29th, 2010
U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyPress Release: 09/27/2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced it intends to propose a rule to reduce mercury waste from dental offices. Dental amalgams, or fillings containing mercury, account for 3.7 tons of mercury discharged from dental offices each year. The mercury waste results when old mercury fillings are replaced with new ones. The mercury in dental fillings is flushed into chair-side drains and enters the wastewater systems, making its way into the environment through discharges to rivers and lakes, incineration or land application of sewage sludge. Mercury released through amalgam discharges can be easily managed and prevented.
August 28th, 2010
BBC News 28 August 2010 Environmental and animal-welfare groups are urging the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to persuade the World Health Organization (WHO) to act over fears about eating whale meat. The coalition of organisations wants the WHO to issue guidelines amid fears about the safety of the meat. The groups say whale meat is highly contaminated with mercury and should not be eaten. But whaling nations say they already have health guidelines in place.
August 20th, 2010
CEH measures many atmospheric chemicals at its EMEP superersite Auchencorth Moss, 15 miles south of Edinburgh in the Scottish Borders. Of interest with respect to the volcano is the measurement of hourly mercury concentrations and fluoride. Volcanoes are a major natural source for mercury and it can be found in the gas phase and associated with volcanic ash. This link (CEH website) shows the most recent 5 days of mercury measurements.
August 11th, 2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing final rules that will cut emissions of mercury from Portland cement manufacturing, the third-largest source of mercury air emissions in the United States (Link to EPA press release).
