Mercury, a highly toxic substance, is found in a lot of products – thermometers, dental fillings, batteries, and light bulbs. It is also a byproduct of coal production, cement production, and waste incineration. But today, the leading cause of man-made mercury pollution isn’t any of these. It’s gold mining.
In recognition of this fact, a new international treaty to reduce global mercury pollution is focused, to a great extent, on stoppingdirty gold mining. And this makes the treaty, finalized last month in Geneva, a very exciting development in the push to make jewelry production more ethical and eco-friendly.
Almost 40 percent of man-made mercury pollution each year results from artisanal gold mining – the kind of gold mining in which people, usually in developing countries, use simple methods to mine for gold, like panning in streams or digging makeshift mine shafts.
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