Improved Methods Reveal More Than Twice As Much Environmental Mercury

• This research "helps to fill some of the many holes in our understanding of mercury flows historically," says Peter Maxson, a consultant based in Brussels who advises the European Commission, UNEP, and others on mercury issues. "Once mercury is brought into the environment, it doesn't just go away but becomes everyone's problem for a very long time," says Maxson, who was not an author of the new paper.
• ScienceMag.org notes that one of the largest concerns today with mercury is small-scale gold mining in the developing world. "Environmentalists and public health advocates are pinning their hopes on an international treaty, agreed to in 2013, called the Minamata Convention, after a town in Japan where citizens suffered from severe mercury poisoning," they write in closing the post. "The treaty would require countries that ratify it to ban mercury in batteries, light bulbs, and other products, and cut emissions from power plants, incinerators, and factories."
http://www.ccaltd.com/news/improved-methods-reveal-more-than-twice-as-much-environmental-me/