Mercury: Time to Act

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Publication Date: January 2013

Ahead of the final negotiations on a mercury treaty, which ended with the succesful signing of commitment to cut mercury by 140 countries, UNEP release the most comprehensice assessment ever of global mercury emissions, which documented increasing health and environmental risk linked to exposure to mercury particuarly in parts of Africa, Asia and South America due mainly to the use of the toxic element in small-scale gold mining, and through the burning of coal for electricity generation.