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Nations agree on global, legally binding treaty on mercury emissions: Minamata Convention on Mercury

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At the conclusion of the International Negotiating Committee on Mercury ( INC5 ) meeting in Geneva ( earlier post ), nations agreed on a global, legally-binding treaty to prevent mercury emissions and releases. The scope of the new treaty which puts in controls and also reduction measures in respect to mercury is as follows: Products.

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Final session on international mercury convention this week expected to culminate in agreement; UNEP Global Mercury Assessment 2013 finds industrial source Hg emissions may be rising

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The fifth and final session of negotiations on the establishment of an international mercury convention—International Negotiating Committee on Mercury (INC5)—is taking place this coming week in Geneva. UNEP produced its first Global Mercury Assessment in 2002 and a subsequent study in 2007.

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Upper atmosphere facilitates changes that let mercury enter food chain

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New research shows that the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere work to transform elemental mercury into oxidized mercury, which can easily be deposited into aquatic ecosystems and ultimately enter the food chain. Exposures to mercury can affect the human nervous system and harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system.

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Ford Terminates Mercury Brand, Expands Lincoln Lineup with Focus on Fuel Efficiency

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end production of Mercury vehicles in the fourth quarter of this year to fully devote its financial, product development, production and marketing, sales and service resources toward further growing its core Ford brand while enhancing the Lincoln brand. Of Ford Motor Company’s 16% market share in the US, Mercury accounts for 0.8

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EPA proposing mercury rule for taconite iron ore processing plants

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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for taconite iron ore processing plants that include new emission standards for mercury as well as revising the existing emission standards for hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride. formaldehyde).

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Chalmers team develops method to reduce levels of mercury in sulfuric acid

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Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a method that can reduce the levels of mercury in sulfuric acid by more than 90%, even from low levels. It is therefore a worldwide challenge that sulfuric acid often contains one of the most toxic substances: mercury.

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Inorganic mercury converted to more toxic and bio-accumulative monomethylmercury in ocean waters, possibly by microbes

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A team led by the University of Alberta has confirmed that inorganic mercury (Hg) found worldwide in ocean water is transformed into monomethylmercury (MMHg)—a potent and bio-accumulative neurotoxin—in the seawater. In a 1991 paper discussing concerns with mercury and monomethylmercury, William F. Fitzgerald and Thomas W.

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