LOC14:51
11:51 GMT
GENEVA, Jan 20 (KUNA) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday
welcomed the approval of a new international convention that will reduce the
harmful health effects of mercury.
Mercury is recognized as a chemical of global concern due to its ability to
travel long distances in the atmosphere; its persistence in the environment;
its ability to accumulate in ecosystems, including in fish, and its
significant negative effect on human health and the environment, said the WHO
in a press release from its Headquarters in Geneva.
Mercury can produce a range of adverse human health effects, including
permanent damage to the nervous system, in particular the developing nervous
system. Due to these effects - and also because mercury can be passed from a
mother to her unborn child, infants - children and women of child-bearing age
are considered vulnerable populations.
Agreement on the treaty followed extensive analysis of evidence and a
series of high level intergovernmental negotiations involving more than 140
countries. The final treaty negotiations occurred this week in Geneva and
concluded today. The treaty establishes a number of protective measures,
including controls on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants and
industry, as well as the use of mercury in artisanal and small scale gold
mining, which are the major sources of mercury in the environment. The treaty
also includes an article dedicated to health.
WHO also supports the treaty's "phasing-down" of the use of dental amalgam
(a compound of mercury and silver-based alloys).
This action will contribute to a reduction of mercury use and the risk of
release to the environment. An important exception that was strongly supported
in the negotiations was the use of thiomersal (ethyl-mercury) as a
preservative in human and animal vaccines. WHO has closely monitored
scientific evidence relating to the use of thiomersal as a vaccine
preservative for more than 10 years, through its Global Advisory Committee on
Vaccine Safety, and the Committee has consistently concluded that there is no
evidence to suggest that the amount of thiomersal used in vaccines poses a
health risk.
Mercury releases in the environment result mainly from human activity,
particularly from coal-fired power stations, residential coal burning for
heating and cooking, industrial processes, waste incinerators and as a result
of mining for mercury, gold and other metals. Mercury is also released from
volcanic activity and weathering of rocks.
Almost 50 percent of mercury emissions to air are from coal-fired power
plants, industrial boilers and household burning of coal. Once in the
environment, elemental mercury is naturally transformed into methylmercury
that bioaccumulates in fish and shellfish. Methylmercury exposure in the womb,
which can result from a mother's consumption of fish and shellfish that
contain methylmercury, can adversely affect a baby's growing brain and nervous
system, impacting on cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, and fine
motor and visual spatial skills. (end)
hb
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