Mercury hazards highlighted

[Naveed Yaseen]

THE Pakistan government is committed to putting in use environment-friendly technology and stop use of mercury due to its adverse impact on human health particularly central nervous system, kidneys and on foetuses.

Inaugurating an Inception Workshop of National Stakeholders on “Management of Mercury and Mercury Containing Waste Projects in Pakistan,” Federal Environment Minister Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi on Thursday said that it was not possible to address this issue due to technological constraints without technical support of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other relevant international agencies.

The moot was organised by the International Cooperation Wing of the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with UNEP’s Chemical Branch, Geneva.

Earlier, the minister said that there was a dire need to sensitize the people in this regard.

He said that classification of 2009 as the National Year of Environment and programmes and projects in this regard spoke of commitment of the government in this aspect.

Afridi said awareness regarding hazards of mercury was vital and urged the donor agencies for maximum funding in this connection. He hoped that this workshop would recommend a comprehensive policy on the Mercury Waste Project in Pakistan.

Earlier, Joint Secretary International Cooperation, Ministry of Environment, Abid Ali in his welcome address said that mercury was a highly toxic chemical and used all over the world including Pakistan in many products and processes.

Since hazard of mercury is a global environmental issue, UNEP has selected three countries including Pakistan in the Asia Pacific region to identify and quantify mercury releases in environment and for mercury waste project.

Dr Mario Yarto, International Consultant, UNEP Chemicals Branch, Geneva, Switzerland and experts on chemical management also spoke on the occasion.

There, environmental experts said that mercury was highly toxic, especially to the developing foetuses, nervous system and young children. They said nonetheless, mercury was still being used in many products and processes all over the world, including small-scale gold mining; manufacturing of manometers and thermometers, electrical switches, fluorescent lamps, dental amalgams, batteries and VCM (vinyl-chloride-monomer) production, chlor-alkali production, cremation, landfills and other sources such as secondary smelting operations and industrial inorganic chemical production and some pharmaceuticals.

They said the most significant mercury release were emissions in air from coal-fired power generation plants and waste incineration. They said mercury was also released directly in water

They said once released, mercury remained in air, water, soil in various forms. They said once deposited, microbes changed it to a particularly hazardous form, methyl-mercury, which concentrated in fish and sea food.

They said most people were exposed to methyl-mercury through the diet, especially fish and to elemental mercury due to dental amalgams. They said mercury was used in skin-fairness creams, traditional medicines research labs, tube lights, barometers, catalysts and pigments, caustic soda and chlorine production, casting, photography, synthetic silk, soldering, dyeing and textile production.

These industries use elemental mercury, mercurous chloride, mercuric chloride and mercuric sulfate.

They said hospitals also served as a potential source of mercury risk to population as they produced various types of wastes ranging from ordinary to toxic and hazardous waste. The experts claimed that around 250,000 tons of medical waste was produced annually in Pakistan from all healthcare facilities, imparting a bad impact on the environment by contaminating land, air, and water. They maintained that 15 tons of hospital waste was produced in Punjab per day at a rate of 1.18 kilograms/day/bed.

Mercury has also traditionally as insecticide for wheat grain storage in rural areas of Pakistan, and was still practiced in some areas due to lack of awareness of risks associated to its ingestion, the experts said. There is no environmentally sound me4cury use and disposal management, the experts claimed and demanded extensive research to assess the status and reduce the exposure risk of mercury in Pakistan.

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