“The global mercury crisis is a conflagration raging under our noses, meanwhile the US is intent on ensuring that the global community fiddles, while the world burns,” said Jim Puckett, a Ban-Hg-Wg spokesperson.

The leaked document states that, "we [US] should block any attempt to move forward" on a binding mercury treaty and "strive to prevent specific references to a convention" in the anticipated Mercury Resolution expected to be adopted by UNEP Governing Council in Nairobi. The document further revealed, "the USG [US government] should oppose convening a formal expert or policy group meeting such as the September 2002 Mercury Working Group" and "oppose assessment of other heavy metals." This comes in apparent response to a unified December European Union position, which states "…that the Member States support and actively work for concrete international actions to be initiated on mercury and its compounds, for instance a legally-binding instrument…and that global assessment of other heavy metals such as lead and cadmium shall commence."

Already, the European Union and the Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC) in Geneva last September at UNEP’s special meeting on the Global Mercury Assessment concluded that options for a legally binding global treaty addressing mercury and perhaps other toxic heavy metals should be explored. Earlier during these talks the US stated that they would remain open to such treaty possibilities but now they appear to be clearly laying down a policy opposing such action.

Additionally, the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), an organization made up of local and state government environmental officials throughout the United States, has also asked the federal government to call for a treaty to be accomplished within 6 years.

"Mercury is a toxic time bomb that is about to explode. We are talking about an immortal toxic substance that is reaching threshold levels in the biosphere. This crisis can only be ignored at the peril of all fish consumption, child development, and the very genetic integrity of our species, worldwide," said Michael Bender of the Ban-Hg-Wg. “The US must not be allowed to prevent the global community from taking obvious actions to save the health of future generations.”

Bender also said that the US could do more to reduce mercury releases from coal-fired power plants-the world's largest mercury polluters-but that the internal US document attempts to downplay the issue. "Furthermore, for the largest anthropogenic source of mercury, coal-fired power plants, mercury emissions are just a small part of a much broader air pollution problem that many nations need to confront," states the document.

Background: Mercury is a persistent, bio-accumulative toxin that has increased at least three fold in the atmosphere and ocean over the past century, posing a risk to human health, wildlife and the ecological balance. The US Food and Drug Administration and 41 states warn consumers to limit or not eat certain fish due to mercury levels and ten states advise pregnant women and children to limit consumption of canned tuna, the most consumed fish in the US. A potent neurotoxin, mercury exposures can affect the brain, kidneys and liver, and cause developmental problems. Data from the Centers for Disease Control indicates that 1-in-12 women of childbearing age have unsafe mercury levels, translating into over 300,000 children born each year in the US at risk of exposure to mercury.

The UNEP Working Group met in Geneva in September 2002 and finalized the global mercury assessment report for submittal to the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, February 3 to 7, 2003. Based on the report's key findings, the Working Group concluded "there was sufficient evidence of significant global adverse impacts to warrant international action to reduce the risks to human health and/or the environment arising from the release of mercury into the environment." In its September 23, 2002 meeting summary, the Working Group "stressed the need to pay particular attention to vulnerable populations subject to special (mercury) risk, namely children, pregnant women, and woman of childbearing age as well as indigenous people, communities dependent on fish as a source of food and occupational exposure when addressing the global adverse impacts of mercury." The Working Group also "emphasized that it was not necessary to have full consensus or complete evidence in order to take action and therefore potentially significant global adverse impacts should also be addressed." The Governing Council will also consider whether other heavy metals of possible global concern warrant assessments.

For more information contact:

Michael Bender, Mercury Policy Project, 802-223-9000, E-mail: mercurypolicy@aol.com

Jim Puckett, Basel Action Network, 206-652-5555, E-mail: jpuckett@ban.org

For more information visit: http://www.mercurypolicy.org. http://www.ban.org/Ban-Hg-Wg http://www.chem.unep.ch/mercury

Internal US document available upon request from Press Contacts.

ECOS Document available at http://www.mercurypolicy.org