The Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) has been investigating mercury-added skin lightening products (SLPs) for several years, primarily due to their health risks, their illegality under many national laws, and the prohibition by the Minamata Convention on Mercury against the manufacture and trade of mercury-added SLPs, which generally became effective …
Scorching sun beats down on half a dozen women as they carry large sacks of crushed ore on their backs at the Osiri-Matanda gold mine near Kenya's border with Tanzania. On wooden tables, they sieve the powdered ore into metal pans, add mercury, and heat the mixture over a charcoal …
The health department has finally acted upon and collected water samples from Asola village, where kidney failures are reported to be endemic. The water will be tested at the state government lab in Pune for presence of heavy metals like arsenic, lead, mercury or chromium, which can lead to kidney …
Dangerously high levels of mercury and a related toxin are pervasive in rivers and soils near artisanal gold mines in Senegal, according to a new study from Duke University. “Nearly every sample we collected from in and around four mining villages contained mercury concentrations higher than regulatory standards set by …
This study aims to conduct an inventory of mercury emissions from selected coal-fired power plants in Thailand. This study, focusing on emissions of mercury from coal combustion so as to generate electricity, is a contribution to international efforts to reduce mercury pollution. It aims to establish mercury emission factor and …
The maiden Conference of Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury took place in Geneva on September 24-29. The Convention is an international legal instrument or Treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. The Convention currently has been …
N'Djamena - Ten people were killed in clashes at a gold mine in the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad, pitting locals against outsiders in search of riches, a security source told AFP. The violence erupted early on Tuesday when local residents told gold miners who had flocked to the central …
1044 women of child-bearing age from 25 countries participated in the study. 42% of them had mercury levels greater than 1 ppm — the level that approximately corresponds to the US EPA reference dose.* 55% of the women had mercury levels greater than 0.58 ppm mercury, a more recent, science-based …
Increased energy demand has led to plans for building many new dams in the western Amazon, mostly in the Andean region. Historical data and mechanistic scenarios are used to examine potential impacts above and below six of the largest dams planned for the region, including reductions in downstream sediment and …
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will ban the production and trade of a range of products containing mercury by 2020, including thermometers and blood pressure monitors, and ban primary mercury mining by 2032, as a global pact to cut pollution from the metal comes into effect. China - the world's biggest …
A ground-breaking global convention on mercury today goes into effect, the United Nations environment wing said, protecting millions of children and infants from possible neurological and health damage. "Governments that are party to the Convention are now legally bound to take a range of measures to protect human health and …
Mining companies commit environmental crimes such as contamination of water bodies with chemicals such as cyanide and mercury and air pollution caused by blasting and chimney smoke Mining companies commit environmental crimes such as contamination of water bodies with chemicals such as cyanide and mercury and air pollution caused by …
The country's $1 billion gold production sector is under threat from the Minamata Convention that seeks to ban the use of mercury, a major chemical used by artisanal miners to trap the mineral from ore. The Minamata Convention is calling for the phasing out of new mercury sources and the …
Kampala — The next time you buy fish from the market it might contain harmful traces of mercury, the environmental watchdog, National Environment Management Authority (Nema) has warned in a new report. Artisanal gold mining and burning of coal to power cement factories are some of the activities that Nema …
East Africa is driving a global initiative to phase out the use of mercury in mining, as it is harmful to human health and the environment. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Burundi have announced plans to phase out use of mercury in artisanal mining of gold, which tends to be …
Kenya is one of the eight countries that will get financial and technical support to eradicate mercury during gold mining and processing. The recently launched Global Opportunities for Long-term Development of the Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining project of the UN Environmental Programme will invest $21 million (Sh2.17 billion) in …
A new study, supported by the Minamata Convention’s Interim Secretariat hosted by UN Environment, reveals that women of childbearing age living in four Pacific Island countries have elevated levels of mercury in their bodies. Mercury monitoring in women of childbearing age in the Asia and the Pacific Region, jointly conducted …
Ghana has ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of the toxic liquid metal. The West African country has been a signatory to the 2013 convention since 2014 and ratified it on March 23, 2017. Mercury is used especially by …
Kadoma — Studies have revealed high traces of mercury metal in women's breast milk and fish in the gold mining areas of Kadoma and Chakari, exposing to risk the lives of children and people in surrounding communities. Mercury exposure affects foetal neurological development and is linked to lower fertility, brain …
South Kordofan / East Darfur — Residents in Kordofan and Darfur states have filed new complaints against the use of mercury, cyanide and other harmful substances in areas of gold and oil exploration. People from North and West Kordofan, East Darfur and Red Sea state collaboratively filed the complaint to …
Researchers found that extra rainfall drives up the amount of organic material flowing into the seas.a Rising temperatures may boost levels of mercury – one of the world’s most toxic metals – in fish by up to seven times the current rates, say scientists. Researchers found that extra rainfall drives …
