Protocol to
control heavy metals to enter into force
Geneva, 7 October
2003 - Germany has become the 16th
country to ratify the Protocol on Heavy
Metals. The Protocol will, consequently,
enter into force on 29 December 2003.
The Protocol, originally
adopted on 24 June 1998 in Aarhus (Denmark)
and signed by 35 countries and the European
Community, will be the seventh to take
effect under the Convention on Long-range
Transboundary Air Pollution of the United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UNECE). The sixth Protocol, that on
Persistent Organic Pollutants, will
take effect later this month on 23 October.
The Protocol on Heavy
Metals focuses on three toxic heavy
metals, cadmium, lead and mercury, and
its ultimate objective is to control
the man-made emissions of heavy metals
that cause harm to our health and the
environment.
All three metals in
the Protocol are well-known pollutants
that have caused severe damage in some
parts of the world and more widespread
chronic effects in some populations.
Mercury, for instance, is a pollutant
that can travel very long distances
and high levels of mercury, attributed
to man-made emissions, have been found
in fish, especially in some parts of
Northern Europe and North America, making
it unsafe for human consumption. Heavy
metals can cause blood disorders and
affect vital organs such as the liver
and the kidneys.
Many Governments have
taken steps to remove lead from petrol,
and the phasing-out of leaded petrol
is one of the requirements of the Protocol.
There are many industrial
sources of heavy metal pollution (coal
combustion in power stations and heating
plants, iron and steel industry, non-ferrous
metal industry, refuse incineration
and chlorine production) and the application
of best available techniques (BAT) is
another requirement of the Protocol.
The Protocol also introduces
measures to lower heavy metal emissions
from other products, such as mercury
in batteries, and proposes the introduction
of management measures for other mercury-containing
products, such as electrical components
(thermostats, switches), measuring devices
(thermometers, manometers, barometers),
fluorescent lamps, dental amalgam, pesticides
and paint.
Since the Protocol will take effect
only after the next session of the Convention's
Executive Body on 15-18 December 2003,
the 16 Parties to the Protocol, Canada,
the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Norway, the Republic of Moldova, Romania,
Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United
States and the European Community, will
have their first meeting at the Executive
Body's session scheduled for December
2004 in Geneva. The Convention's Expert
Group on Heavy Metals meanwhile will
continue its work to provide the Parties
to the Protocol with the necessary information
to consider reviews of some of the provisions
of the Protocol to see if they need
to be updated. They may also begin to
consider the addition of other heavy
metals to the Protocol.
For further information, please contact:
Brinda WACHS
Environment and Human Settlements
Division
United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE)
Palais des Nations, office 327
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41(0)22 917
24 52
Fax: +41(0)22 907 06 21
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/
Ref: ECE/ENV/03/P19