Minamata Convention on Mercury
Rupert Purchase
ECG Committee Member
ECG Bulletin January 2014
ECG Committee Member
ECG Bulletin January 2014
The Minamata Convention on Mercury, a global and legally-binding agreement to control and reduce emissions of mercury into the environment, was formally adopted by 141 nations at a Diplomatic Conference in the city of Kumamoto, Japan, in October 2013. The convention is expected to come into force within 3-5 years, and by the end of 2013 ninety-four nations, including the USA, had signed the agreement implying that they will abide by treaty regulations until it enters into force.
Minamata is a city within the Kumamoto Prefecture of Japan and is associated with Minamata disease, a neurological disorder identified in the 1950s in patients who had eaten seafood harvested in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea (Yatsushiro Sea). Mercury (Hg2+) discharges into the marine environment from a local chemical factory were identified as the cause of Minamata disease. The recognition that inorganic mercury is transformed into organomercury and bioaccumulates in the marine ecosystem led to an increased awareness from the 1990s onwards for the need to control mercury emissions into the environment.
Minamata is a city within the Kumamoto Prefecture of Japan and is associated with Minamata disease, a neurological disorder identified in the 1950s in patients who had eaten seafood harvested in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea (Yatsushiro Sea). Mercury (Hg2+) discharges into the marine environment from a local chemical factory were identified as the cause of Minamata disease. The recognition that inorganic mercury is transformed into organomercury and bioaccumulates in the marine ecosystem led to an increased awareness from the 1990s onwards for the need to control mercury emissions into the environment.
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Under the provisions of the Minamata Convention, Governments have agreed on a range of mercury-containing products whose production, import and export will be banned by 2020. These items have non-mercury alternatives that will be further phased in as these are phased out. They include: Batteries, except for ‘button cell’ batteries used in implantable medical devices; Switches and relays; Some compact fluorescent lamps;Mercury in cold cathode fluorescent lamps and external electrode fluorescent lamps; Soaps and cosmetics (mercury is used in skin-whitening products); Some mercury-containing medical items such as thermometers and blood pressure devices. There will also be a ‘phase-down’ of dental fillings which use mercury amalgam. Mercury from small-scale gold-mining and from coal-fired power stations represents the biggest source of mercury pollution worldwide.
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Gold mining. Prospectors searching for gold on the Tonle Sap river. Cambodia. Gold mining is one of the main sources of mercury in the environment. Credit Meunierd/Shutterstock
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Under the Minamata Convention, Governments have agreed that countries will draw up strategies to reduce the amount of mercury used by small-scale miners and that national plans will be drawn up within three years of the treaty entering into force to reduce, and if possible eliminate, mercury. The Convention will also control mercury emission and releases from large-scale industrial plants such as coal-fired power stations, industrial boilers, waste incinerators and cement clinkers facilities.
The US recently finalised a Mercury and Air Toxics Standard which is predicted to reduce mercury emissions by 20 tonnes by 2016, and an export ban came into effect in January 2013. The EU banned mercury exports in 2011.
Web links
Google “Global Mercury Assessment 2013 - UNEP”
Full text of the Minamata Convention: http://www.mercuryconvention.org/Convention/tabid/3426/Default.aspx
Further reading
N. E. Selin, ‘Global change and mercury cycling: challenges for implementing a global mercury treaty’, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Accepted Article; DOI: 10.1002/etc.2374.
M. Chmiel et al., ‘Organomercury compounds in environmental samples: emission sources, toxicity, environmental fate and determination’, Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, Accepted Article; DOI: 10.1080/10643389.2012.728825.
H. Hsu-Kim et al., ‘Mechanisms regulating mercury bioavailability for methylating microorganisms in the aquatic environment: a critical review’, Environmental Science & Technology, 2013, 47, 2441-2456; dx.doi.org/10.1021/es304370g.
C. T. Driscoll et al., ‘Mercury as a global pollutant: sources, pathways, and effects’, Environmental Science & Technology, 2013, 47, 4967-4983; DOI: 10.1021/es305071v.
The US recently finalised a Mercury and Air Toxics Standard which is predicted to reduce mercury emissions by 20 tonnes by 2016, and an export ban came into effect in January 2013. The EU banned mercury exports in 2011.
Web links
Google “Global Mercury Assessment 2013 - UNEP”
Full text of the Minamata Convention: http://www.mercuryconvention.org/Convention/tabid/3426/Default.aspx
Further reading
N. E. Selin, ‘Global change and mercury cycling: challenges for implementing a global mercury treaty’, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Accepted Article; DOI: 10.1002/etc.2374.
M. Chmiel et al., ‘Organomercury compounds in environmental samples: emission sources, toxicity, environmental fate and determination’, Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, Accepted Article; DOI: 10.1080/10643389.2012.728825.
H. Hsu-Kim et al., ‘Mechanisms regulating mercury bioavailability for methylating microorganisms in the aquatic environment: a critical review’, Environmental Science & Technology, 2013, 47, 2441-2456; dx.doi.org/10.1021/es304370g.
C. T. Driscoll et al., ‘Mercury as a global pollutant: sources, pathways, and effects’, Environmental Science & Technology, 2013, 47, 4967-4983; DOI: 10.1021/es305071v.
