Feng Zengkun Straits Times 10 Oct 13;
SINGAPORE is expected to be among the first countries today to sign a new United Nations agreement on curbing mercury poisoning and pollution.
Called the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the document will be opened for countries to sign in Kumamoto, Japan, as part of a diplomatic conference that began yesterday there to adopt it.
Countries who sign the agreement will pledge to ban or reduce the import, export, use and manufacturing of products with mercury, among other measures to protect people and the environment from the risk of mercury exposure.
Mercury is a heavy metal that can be released into the air and water through activities such as small-scale gold mining and waste incineration. It is also found in some products such as some thermometers, batteries and skin-lightening creams.
Exposure to mercury can cause damage to the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and nervous and immune systems.
However, the agreement will only take effect when at least 50 countries sign it and ratify it domestically. More than a hundred countries, including Singapore, have attended sessions to negotiate its terms in the past three years.
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan will be in Kumamoto today and tomorrow and is expected to sign the document on behalf of Singapore.
The Republic already meets several of the agreement's terms. Cosmetics with mercury and its compounds have been banned here since 2008.
Only products to be applied around the eyes are exempted, but they cannot contain more than 0.007 per cent of mercury to be used as a preservative.
The National Environment Agency said it has limited the use of mercury in products over the years, for example, by restricting it in batteries, clinical thermometers and fluorescent lamps.
The Ministry of Health and Health Sciences Authority said in a joint statement that some eye and ear products and nasal sprays here may have mercury in small amounts as a preservative, but these are safe.
Singapore committed to pact on curbing mercury pollution and use: Balakrishnan
Channel NewsAsia 11 Oct 13;
SINGAPORE: Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has said that Singapore is committed to ensuring that all mercury that is shipped through its ports will strictly comply with the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which is aimed at curbing mercury pollution and mercury use in products worldwide.
Speaking at a diplomatic conference on the Minamata Convention in Kumamoto, Japan on Friday, he said that is a commitment that Singapore is making as a major transhipment hub.
Dr Balakrishnan also said Singapore has put in place multiple controls to restrict the use of mercury in Singapore.
For instance, industries in Singapore do not use mercury.
Batteries and clinical thermometers containing mercury are also no longer allowed for import into Singapore.
Dr Balakrishnan said as a dense city state with no natural hinterland but having one of the most compact living conditions in the world, Singapore is acutely sensitive to environmental threats.
Referring to some of the worst cases of mercury poisoning in Minamata in the 1950s, he said the disaster served as a stark reminder that governments need to be vigilant and transparent.
They need to work with non-government organisations and the media to ensure vigilance.
They also need to ensure that companies conduct their businesses responsibly.
In addition, an effective international collaboration is necessary.
Dr Balakrishnan said it is in that spirit that the Minamata Convention has been formulated and signed by so many countries.
- CNA/ms
