Group pushes ban on mercury use

MANILA, Philippines - On Human Rights Day, environmental justice group BAN Toxics stresses the protection of people’s right to life as it reiterates their call to phase out mercury use and trade.

“As the world observes International Human Rights day, we urge all nations to curb the threats against the people’s basic human right to health and life by stopping mercury pollution by rapidly ratifying the Minamata Treaty and taking immediate measures to meet the requirement of the treaty,” says BAN Toxics executive director Richard Gutierrez.

Exactly two months ago, the Minamata Treaty was signed and adopted by different nations including the Philippines. The treaty is an internationally binding legal instrument that aims to protect human health and the environment from the adverse impacts of mercury and mercury compounds.

The group raises alarm over the seemingly high exposure of the Filipino family to mercury. 

According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) national inventory of mercury the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector emits an estimated 70 tons of mercury in the environment annually.

It may be recalled that in 2006, a report by the United Nations stated that Filipino miners have mercury levels 50 times higher than WHO limits.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that is persistent in the environment. From a number of historical pollution disasters it has been established that psychiatric symptoms, brain damage and kidney damage are some of the serious health consequences of exposure to high levels of mercury, but it is also well-documented that even tiny dosages affect the intellectual and physical performance of children when exposed in utero.

Women and children are most vulnerable to the ill-effects of mercury exposure.  In 2013, the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the WHO confirmed that mercury is a human carcinogen.

Aside from that, statistics from the United Nations COMTRADE, a global database on trade of commodities, for the period 2007-2011 shows that the Philippines imported more than 65,000 kilograms of inorganic and organic compounds of toxic metals,including dental amalgams which are composed of 50 percent mercury (BAN Toxics, 2012).  

“Mercury is a poison that impacts not just the health of those that use, but also and unjustly a larger portion of the population,” add Gutierrez.

In this light, BAN Toxics urges the government to accelerate its effort towards the elimination of mercury through the strict and steadfast implementation of the Minamata Treaty.

BAN Toxics! is an independent non-government environmental organization focused on the advancement of environmental justice, children’s health, and toxics elimination.

Working closely with government agencies, partner communities and other NGOs in both the local and international levels, BAN Toxics endeavors to reduce and eliminate the use of harmful toxins through education campaigns, training and awareness-raising, and policy-building and advocacy programs.