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EMA gets tough on mercury usage

EMA gets tough on mercury usage

EMA

THE Environmental Management Agency (EMA) says it has increased efforts to reduce, limit or even eliminate mercury use while at the same time maintaining or increasing production levels in the critical mining sector.

EMA environmental education and publicity manager Mrs. Amkela Sidange said the organisation is aiming to reduce adverse effects of mercury in line with the Minamata Convention that aims to protect human health and the environment.

She said mercury is a toxic pollutant that can circulate in the atmosphere and can cause significant harm to both human beings and the environment.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) lists mercury as one of the top ten chemicals of major public health concern.

“We are responsible for regulating mercury, its transportation, storage and its usage and we must win that war. We want to reduce its usage because it is a hazardous substance,’’ she said.

Mercury is a highly toxic element that is found both naturally and as an introduced contaminant.

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Minamata Convention is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury and it was agreed at the 5TH session of the Inter-Governmental Negotiating Committee on mercury in Geneva, Switzerland on January 19, 2013, and adopted on October 10, 2013, at a diplomatic conference held in Kumamoto, Japan. — Zimbabwe was one of the first signatories to the conventions in October 2013 in Japan and is among 128 countries that are part to the convention.

 

The Herald

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