Are we serious about mercury?

摘要

In 2003, the United Nations Environment Program published a Global Mercury Assessment Report. The report found that both elemental mercury and its compounds are highly toxic, causing significant health and environmental impacts around the world. One third to one half of mercury air emissions come from volcanoes, geothermal activities and erosion of mercury-based deposits. The rest are from: mining/processing ore; burning coal and oil; use, disposal and burning of products that contain mercury (e.g., batteries, paints, thermometers, electrical devices); small-scale gold mining; and re-mobilization of mercury from disturbances such as land use change, burning of biomass, heavy rain, floods or fire.