Rest of world phases out mercury, India unchecked Consumer No. 1

The US, which has a stringent regulatory system for mercury and is aggressively phasing it out, remains a key exporter to India, Spain being the largest exporter.

What adds to the problem is the fact that there is no regulatory system in place here.

After 1992, mercury came under the Open General License which means any trader is free to import mercury as much as he wants. However, there is no inventory of where this mercury is going.

“In India, all this trade is legal which is in contravention of the Basel treaty which prohibits trade of hazardous substances,’’ said Ravi Agarwal, director of Delhi-based environment advocacy group Toxics Link, which will release its report on the mercury menace tomorrow.

Experts say there are three main causes of concern:

• The gap between what is being imported (India imports all its mercury) and the known consumption. Last year, the Central Pollution Control Board asked the National Productivity Council to prepare an inventory. Nothing has moved.

• Increasing evidence of mercury in water and fish in several studies done by institutes and even the government. A 1999 Calcutta University study of fish in the Hooghly found 1.18-1.20 mg per kg as compared to WHO’s permissible level of 1 mg per kg.

• No official action plan.

Chlor-alkali plants, which make inputs for fertilizers and pesticides, are the single largest-known consumers of mercury, accounting for, as per official figures, 13% of the imports.

Beyond this, is the large unregulated market of thermometer manufacturers and those which make thermostats, button cells and tube lights. Traders at Tilak Bazaar in the capital, one of the largest mercury wholesale markets in the country, say their buyers are from a range of industries: ayurveda, paints and pesticides, temple and gurudwara builders, bangles and cosmetic industry and, of course, shivling manufacturers.

After protests by NGOs, the government put pressure on the chlor-alkali industry to start replacing mercury with alternatives. “We have taken a lead in bringing down our consumption by bringing in better technology,’’ said A Singh, president of the chlor alkali manufacturing association.

‘‘But where is the 87% mercury going? How is being disposed off? That is why mercury levels are so many times higher than WHO permissible limits,’’ said Chandra Bhushan, Associate director, Centre for Science and Environment, who compiled a map of mercury hot-spots in the country.

What is worrying experts is the Government being in denial mode. Asked about studies that mercury spill from one thermometer can contaminate a 20-square-km lake, Secretary, Environment and Forest Prodipto Ghosh says he is not impressed.

“If mercury was so dangerous, I would not be alive today,’’ he says. Himself a chemical engineer, he says he has handled mercury. ‘‘We will not spend so much money in replacing mercury when the same money can be used for more pressing environmental concerns…We need our own studies to see if it is that injurious to health.’’

However, he admits that there is too much mercury coming in and there is no inventory. ‘‘We have asked for more studies, we will decide after due scientific diligence,’’ he said.

Why is mercury dangerous

Evidence from the world

Japan’s Minamata Tragedy (1956), where 12000 were affected after eating mercury-poisoned fish set off an international campaign against its use. Several global studies have concluded that mercury has:

• Neuro-toxic effects: muscle coordination, behaviour, even memory

• Hampers nerve conduction after long-term occupational exposure to mercury.

• Renal failure

• Chronic exposure can impair fertility and pregnancy.

In India

• Environment Secy says no evidence of any damage, need to do our own studies

• “By the time, studies are done, it may be too late,’’ says Bharat Sagar of the environmental medicine group at LNJP Hospital in New Delhi. “We do not even have knowhow to test people for mercury contamination. They are treated as routine neurological disorder cases.’’