This document is also available as a PDF file that includes photos and illustrations.

Five years ago, NRDC's health team launched an ambitious international campaign to reduce global mercury pollution. In 2008, our hard work paid off with the passage of federal legislation that prohibits the sale of this toxic metal into global commerce. Combined with a similar policy we helped pass in the European Union, this major victory will remove one-third of the world’s toxic mercury supply from circulation.

This landmark victory is a shining example of NRDC's unique ability to apply science, law, and advocacy to tackle a seemingly insurmountable problem of global scale. First, NRDC's experts systematically identified the most significant sources of mercury pollution in the world. We discovered that although the best-known source was emissions from coal-fired power plants, equally important was commodity-grade mercury used in industry. We also learned that a flood of surplus mercury being taken out of commission in developed countries was being "recycled" through export to developing nations, where it was being used in polluting ways. Most commonly, this exported mercury is used for artisanal gold mining, an industry involving an estimated 15 million people in developing nations, including 4.5 million women and 1 million children.

See the complete Toxics section of this report (in pdf format, 284k) for more about our work, including our fight against mercury pollution.

Back to contents page | « Previous | Next »