The story of the Sambhavna Clinic, a non-profit holistic health clinic in Bhopal, India, built to treat those injured by the Union Carbide toxic gas release in 1984. enlarge video
Preparing for Global Mercury Treaty Negotiations
Numerous IPEN representatives participated in the recently concluded Ad-Hoc Open Ended Working Group (AHOEWG) meeting on mercury in Bangkok, Thailand. This meeting helped to prepare all stakeholders for the upcoming first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC1) to prepare a globally binding instrument on mercury, which will take place in June 2010 in Stockholm, Sweden.
"Mercury in products has become a major threat, particularly as products reach the end of their life cycles and become waste. We look forward to a treaty to address this issue and potentially other heavy metal issues."
Toxics Link (India)
Prior to the AHOEWG meeting on mercury in Bangkok, IPEN produced a vision document called the "IPEN Views on a Global Mercury Treaty" Links. This working document will be finalized shortly.
One key outcome from the AHOEWG was recommendations for rules of procedure, which will ensure NGO participation in the crafting and implementation of the forthcoming mercury treaty. Additionally, governments suggested that regional representatives be selected to contribute to the process.
Mercury is a toxic substance of global concern that causes significant harm to human health and ecosystems. When mercury is released to the environment, it travels with air currents and then falls back to earth, sometimes nearby the original source and sometimes very far away. Mercury can drain from soils to streams, rivers, lakes and oceans, and it can also be transported by ocean currents and migratory species. When mercury enters the aquatic environment, it is transformed by micro-organisms into a more toxic form, methylmercury. In this form, mercury enters the food chain and accumulates and bio-magnifies in aquatic organisms including fish and shellfish, and also in the birds, mammals and people who eat them.
"Fish is a staple food for many of the cultures of the Pacific Islands, as well as for coastal people more globally. In fact, eating fish is the only source of protein for many subsistence fishermen. Because mercury has and continues to contaminate fish around the world, our traditional food sources are being negatively impacted in ways that are beyond our control. We look forward to a global mercury treaty that will protect our cultural heritage and food supply." - Imogen Pua Ingram, Island Sustainability Alliance, Cook Islands
Mercury, especially when it is in the form of methylmercury, is highly toxic to humans. Human embryos, fetuses, infants, and children are particularly vulnerable because mercury interferes with neurological development. This exposure can diminish the child's cognitive and thinking abilities, memory, attention, language acquisition, fine motor skills and visual spatial skills.
"Recently, in the opening ceremony at a National Meeting on Mercury Substitution in Hospitals in Mexico, Dr Armando Ahued, from the Health Secretariat of Mexico City, confirmed their commitment to substitute mercury thermometers and sphygmomanometers in the Mexico City Public Health System. This system includes 29 hospitals and several public health centers, and is a great step forward for safer healthcare in Mexico. We hope it will be used as a model for mercury substitution for all products containing mercury around the world. " - Fernando Bejarano G., Center for Analyses and Action on Toxics and their Alternatives and coordinator of a Health Care Without Harm project in Mexico
Mercury is released to the environment from mercury-containing products, industrial processes, mining activities, combustion, wastes and other sources.
"Mercury in products has become a major threat, particularly as products reach the end of their life cycles and become waste. We look forward to a treaty to address this issue and potentially other heavy metal issues."- Ravi Agarwal, Toxics Link, India
IPEN's main focus in the run-up to the INC1 to prepare a globally binding instrument on mercury is:
- To educate and engage the general public, including affected communities, workers and their families, about the toxic threats posed by mercury and the importance of the treaty
- Build the base of NGOs around the world and facilitate their active engagement in the negotiating process both internationally and nationally
- Collaborate with our sister organizations in the health, climate, waste and labour sectors, as well as our indigenous colleagues.
IPEN views the Mercury Treaty as an opportunity to highlight the menace of toxic heavy metals. For us, mercury is a priority issue. It is not only a serious threat to human health and the health of our planet, it is essentially an issue of social and environmental justice and intergenerational equity and we are here for the long haul.
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