Mercury treaty fails to offer poor gold miners a quicksilver solution

The new mercury treaty will rewrite the rules on how the toxic element can be used around the world. But it remains unclear how the treaty will affect those facing some of the greatest health risks from the substance: small-scale gold miners in the developing world.
"The scientific evidence is so incontestable … and the health impacts are so debilitating," says Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (Unep). "We want to find a way in which mercury can be taken out of the small-scale gold mining sector. Unbeknown to many of the people who are engaged in this gold mining, it is a very harmful compound."
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/jan/21/mercury-treaty-poor-gold-miners