Majority of govts back global mercury ban - NGOs

13 October 2008 13:51  [Source: ICIS news]

PARIS (ICIS news)--Most governments would support legislation for a worldwide ban on the use of mercury, said the Zero Mercury Working Group, an international coalition of environmental groups, on Monday.

Group project co-ordinator Elena Lymberidi-Settimo said “an overwhelming majority of more than 90 governments… supported a free standing legally binding instrument” to ban mercury.

She was speaking after the UN Environmental Programme's second open-ended working group on mercury,

The UNEP's governing council will decide in February 2009 whether global legislation on mercury should be developed.

The EU agreed in September 2008 to introduce an export ban on mercury, which comes into effect in March 2011.

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By: Philippa Jones
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