Environmental legislation news: 'Progress made' on mercury pollution treaty

Governments from around the world are now "well on the way" to establishing a treaty to regulate mercury pollution, according to one delegate.

The United Nations Environmental Programme meeting saw participants reach an agreement on the rules of procedure and a timetable to adopt the treaty by 2013.

During the course of the conference, information relating to mercury supply and trade, products and artisanal scale gold mining was presented. Governments were also given the opportunity to discuss their own methods for controlling mercury.

The event is a pre-cursor to International Negotiation Committee meetings, due to be held in Stockholm in 2010.

The conference, which was held in Bangkok, has been hailed as a success by the Zero Mercury Working Group, who spoke to the Medical News.

Michael Bender, a member of the group, told the publication: "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."

The Zero Mercury Working Group was established in 2004 by the European Environmental Bureau and the Ban Hq Working Group. The organisation runs the Zero Mercury Campaign, which ultimately aims to eliminate mercury emissions and the demand and supply of the substance from all sources under human control.

Posted by Joseph Hutton