Mercury production to be stopped  in Armenia

ArmInfo. Production of mercury-containing products will be stopped in Armenia. This was  reported by the press service of the RA Ministry of Environment.   According to the source, this program will be implemented in stages  in order to gradually phase out mercury additives in lamps and  thermometers.  etc. As part of the planned activities, the necessary  legal framework will be developed, measures to increase public  awareness of the harmful effects of mercury.

In the context of the work begun at the Ministry of the Environment,  the first meeting of the steering committee of the project "Building  Capacity in Armenia to Support the Phase-out of Mercury Additive  Products" was held. The project is being implemented jointly with the  United Nations Environment Program.

Recall that on October 6, 2017, Armenia ratified the Minamata  Convention on Mercury. The Minamata Convention, developed under the  auspices of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), was  adopted on October 9, 2013 at a conference in Minamata (Japan). It  aims to reduce the scale of production and use of mercury and to  remove from use household appliances and substances containing this  toxic metal. In particular, we are talking about medical  thermometers, pressure measuring instruments, barometers and other  measuring devices, fluorescent lamps, batteries, mercury-containing  amalgams in dentistry, as well as some types of soap and cosmetics.  According to the new agreement, by 2020 the production, export and  import of a whole range of mercury-containing products will be  banned. These include batteries, with the exception of "button cells"  used in implantable medical devices, switches and relays, some types  of compact fluorescent lamps, mercury in cold cathode fluorescent  lamps, and fluorescent lamps with an external electrode. Among the  items that should be taken out of use by 2020, such types of  non-electronic medical devices as thermometers and pressure measuring  instruments, some types of soaps and cosmetics are also included.  Approximately 8,900 tons of mercury are released into the atmosphere  each year. Mercury can erode from mercury-containing rocks during  forest fires and volcanic eruptions. However, significant amounts of  emissions occur during coal burning, artisanal and small-scale gold  mining. In mining alone, up to 15 million workers in 70 different  countries of the world are poisoned with mercury vapor, including  children.