Mercury Policy Project

Efficiency Vermont Donated Bulbs

MPP and VPIRG are holding Bring Back the Light, an event where Vermonters can trade in their spent bulbs for new CFLs while supplies last. The event is to highlight long term, sustainable funding solution needed for a comprehensive bulb recycling program.  100 Free bulbs generously donated by Efficiency Vermont at each participating store. Participating stores are Nelson Ace Hardware, 190 N. Main St, Barre, VT 05641, and  S. Burlington Ace Hardware, 1961 Williston Rd, South Burlington, VT 05403. Links for rationale on why to recycle bulbs, and locations in Vermont where there is free bulb recycling.

Concord, New Hampshire

Green Concord is hosting a post-film discussion panel and screening of The Cove at 7pm, Monday, Dec. 14, at Red River Theatres with MPP and other specialists who will speak about the specific issues in The Cove and be available for questions and answers. After the main viewing, MPP will show a segment of the bonus feature “Mercury Rising” that explores the dangers of mercury contamination as it affects society and the global environment. Mercury Policy Project and GotMercury recently introduced the new Cove-GotMercury mercury-in-fish calculator that allows people to check mercury exposure from fish on-line or from a cell phone based on their weight, fish type and serving size.

Global NGO’s ask the World Health Organization (WHO) to consider the health and environmental impact from continued use of dental mercury fillings.  Because effective global control of mercury releases from dental mercury would be extraordinarily difficult and inordinately expensive, they urge the WHO to recommend the use of viable mercury-free alternatives to all countries.  The letter to the WHO was signed by over 70 non-governmental environmental and health organizations from around the world.

Michael Bender, on behalf of Mercury Policy Project and Zero Mercury Working Group, presented at the World Health Organization’s Dental Restoration Materials Meeting.  He discussed the role of UNEP Mercury Storage-Supply Partnership in reducing dental mercury exposure worldwide.  Bender pointed out that reducing the supply, demand, and trade of mercury is more effective than trying to control releases.

The EPA’s new report, National Study of Chemical Residues in Lake Fish Tissue, found mercury in all fish from 500 lakes sampled randomly across the continental U.S.  The data also showed mercury concentrations in game fish exceed EPA’s human health screening levels at 49% of the lakes nationwide.  The EPA is taking steps to limit mercury emissions from power plants within the United States.  However, Mercury Policy Project’s director Michael Bender points out, “Two-thirds of the mercury that’s rained on Vermont and the U.S. comes from Asia and elsewhere outside the U.S.”  Therefore, the international pollution control treaty in the works could have an even greater impact on the U.S.

NECN reports Vermont Lakes Show Effects of Pollution.

General Motors finally caved in to pressure from public-interest groups, government officials and state agencies and has agreed to cover the costs of keeping mercury from its cars out of the atmosphere.  That’s the good news: the environmental community and our recycling industry and policymaker allies have managed to back GM down on an issue that is crucial to public health.

But here’s the bad news: GM has yet to make this decision permanent – and step back from the entire idea that it can declare “environmental bankruptcy.”  Without GM’s support, the ELVS mercury switch recycling program will collapse, potentially sending tons of mercury into the environment, particularly now that the nation’s junk yards are stretched to capacity dealing with the influx of end-of-life vehicles from the cash-for-clunkers program. MPP fully intends to keep the pressure on the new GM to take long-term responsibility for its environmental legacy.  See the New York Times  for additional details.

Today, world governments took the first significant steps towards a Legally Binding Treaty to control mercury pollution at a United Nations Environmental Program meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. Their recommendations (summarized in ZMWG Quick Views) now provide countries with a basis to head into the International Negotiating Committee (INC) meetings starting in Stockholm, June 2010. “We look forward to engaging in focused discussions in areas such as supply, trade and storage of surplus mercury where substantial progress can be made,” said Michael Bender, Director of MPP.  For more information, see ZMWG’s press release and briefing notes by IISD.

Just as the Cash for Clunkers program is dumping hundreds of thousands of vehicles on auto recyclers, the “new” GM announced they are not obligated to honor industry-wide recycling measures to capture mercury from old auto switches. Environmental groups demand that GM fulfill its responsibility. “GM should not be hiding behind a bankruptcy proceeding as an excuse for not meeting its on-going obligation to fund a vital program for keeping mercury out of the environment,” said Charles Griffith, Director of the Ecology Center’s Clean Car Campaign.

As GM was the largest user of mercury auto switches, state-mandated recycling programs are unable to absorb the cost of recycling GM parts.  Compounding the problem, automotive recyclers will no longer receive a bounty from GM to remove the mercury switches from GM cars, increasing the likelihood that the mercury will be dumped into the environment. The Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) also expressed their concern that GM is opting out of their commitment. For more information, see MPP and Ecology Center’s press release and The End of Life Vehicle Solutions Corporation (ELVS) response to GM’s announcement.

A dramatic reversal of the U.S. position on worldwide mercury pollution cleared the way for the development of a globally binding treaty on mercury through the work of an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) over the next four years.  (See press release.) At the UNEP Governing Council meeting in Nairobi, the U.S. delegation endorsed negotiations in 2009 for a new global treaty to control mercury contamination. “The Obama administration has clearly shown a new day has dawned for U.S. leadership and engagement with the rest of the world,” said Bender, MPP’s Director and co-coordinator of ZMWG. “And the momentum created by the U.S. galvanized other governments around the world to step up to address the global mercury crisis.”

During the February’s UNEP Governing Council (GC) meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, 120 countries expressed support for a legally binding agreement on mercury. The GC Decision charges UNEP with the responsibility to conduct, concurrent with the work of the INC, an inventory of the levels of existing emissions controls, and an analysis of the potential to achieve further mercury emission reductions.  The ZMWG plans to follow the issue closely and contribute to the INC process.
 
For additional information, see:  Obama Shifts U.S. Policy to Back Global Mercury Control Treaty

As the world’s governments convene next week to discuss developing  a legally binding treaty on mercury, over twenty groups from around the world have co-released a new MPP report calling attention to the global human health hazards caused by  mercury  in fish and fish-eating marine mammals. The study, released by the international Zero Mercury Working Group, indicates that the health impacts of methylmercury in fish and fish-eating marine mammals are substantial, and demand an effective response from governments and the United Nations.  “Mercury contamination of fish and mammals is a global public health concern,” said MPP Director Bender. “Our study of fish tested in different locations around the world shows that widely accepted international exposure levels for methylmercury are exceeded, often by wide margins, in each country and area covered.”

According to the report, “Mercury in Fish: An Urgent Global Health Concern” (11MB), the risk is greatest for populations whose per capita fish consumption is high, and in areas where pollution has elevated the average mercury content of fish. But methylmercury hazards also exist where per capita fish consumption and average mercury levels in fish are comparatively low. In cultures where fish-eating marine mammals are part of the traditional diet, mercury in these animals can add substantially to total dietary exposure. For additional information, see www.zeromercury.org.

A new international study released today by MPP, Zero Mercury Working Group, GAIA and Ban Toxics! shows how the burning of mercury-containing products is increasing the risk of environmental and health impacts around the world. The new study states that incineration and burning send upwards of 200 tons of mercury into the atmosphere every year, comprising 10 percent of the mercury that enters the earth’s atmosphere through human activities.  “Based on this report’s findings, we must recognize that the amount of mercury released into the atmosphere through incineration and burning is much more significant than previously suspected, representing at least twice the emissions as previously thought,” said Michael Bender, MPP Director

The study, entitled “Mercury Rising: Reducing Global Emissions from Burning Mercury-Added Products,” underscores the harmful environmental and health impacts posed by incineration or burning of mercury-added products (such as discarded fluorescent light bulbs, thermostats, switches and thermometers) in incinerators, landfill fires and open burning of domestic waste is a significant contributor of mercury and other toxics to both local and global mercury pool.

The report recommends that, at the upcoming February meeting in Nairobi, of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the purpose of negotiating a free-standing legally binding instrument on mercury.In the interim period before such an instrument becomes effective, the report recommends to UNEP to take the following action:

• Assume responsibility for the awareness-raising, analytical, technical and legal support activities necessary to encourage manufacturers of mercury-added products, and countries where such manufacturers are located, to identify and implement the actions.
• Recognize that combustion of mercury-added products in incinerators, landfill fires and open burning of domestic waste is a significant contributor of mercury and other toxics in both local and global ecosystems, and urge countries to take steps to stop these practices and move towards safe, just, sustainable and more environmentally-sound alternatives