On November 9, 2007, the first public hearing on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project entitled  ”The Nubarashen obsolete pesticide burial site excavation, safe transportation of waste, area cleanup and stabilization” was held at the Conference Hall of Erebuni administrative district (according to the RA Law N HO-110-N on “Environmental Impact Assessment and Expertise” dated of 21 June 2014, as well as the Resolution N 1325-N of the Government of the Republic of Armenia dated November 19, 2014). The purpose of the discussion was to introduce the project designed for the solution of the problem of the Nubarashen pesticide burial site to the affected community residents, responsible divisions of the district administration, particularly, the environmental, architectural and communal divisions, as well as to the public sector.

Lilik Simonyan, a representative of the project initiator NGO ”Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment”, noted during the discussion that that initiative was also welcomed by the residents of neighboring communities with whom they conduct regular meetings, discussions and provide information on the progress of the project.

Vardan Tserunyan, the Program Technical Manager, presented the technical details and the planned steps to be implemented to ensure the temporary support infrastructure in the area of the burial site, excavation of waste / transportation and many other details.

On behalf of the administration of Erebuni administrative district, Deputy Head Edgar Mkrtchyan expressed their readiness to assist and support the solution of this problem which is very important both for Yerevan and the whole country.

Artak Ter-Torosyan, representative of “ATMS Solutions” Company, which is in charge of implementing the project’s environmental impact assessment, presented the environmental and social benefits expected from the project implementation, possible environmental impacts, their reduction and mitigation mechanisms, as well as he answered all the questions raised by the affected community residents.

In order to ensure continuous awareness of the affected community’s population and get them informed about ongoing details of the project, the general department of the municipality has posted information leaflets for residents of the affected communities. Besides that, informative visits to Mushakan community of Erebuni administrative district of Yerevan, as well as the neighboring Voghjaberd and Geghadir communities will be continued.

The First Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP1) will take place from 24 to 29 September 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland. Over 1000 delegates and around 50 ministers are expected to assemble in Geneva to celebrate and lay the groundwork for the treaty’s overall effectiveness. 

During the prior negotiations, the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC) approved many of the forms and guidance that the Convention specifies must be adopted at COP 1, which are needed for the swift and smooth launch and running of the Convention. These include guidance documents on identifying stocks, determining best available technologies and reducing mercury use in small scale gold mining; as well as forms for trade procedures and for exemptions from certain deadlines.

Among the most critical open issues to be discussed at COP1 are the reporting requirements, which will provide critical information on both the global mercury situation and the effectiveness of the Convention in achieving mercury reductions. Particularly critical to collect will be data on mercury production and trade, which can change significantly in a short period of time.

Как показывает новое исследование, проведенное IPEN (глобальной сетью по вопросам здравоохранения и охраны окружающей среды) и Институтом исследования биоразнообразия (BRI), для всех регионов мира в организме женщин детородного возраста были установлены высокие уровни ртути – нейротоксичного металла. У женщин с островов Тихого океана и из районов, расположенных рядом с участками золотодобычи в Индонезии, Кении и Мьянме, были обнаружены средние уровни ртути во много раз выше безопасных уровней, рекомендованных Агентством по охране окружающей среды США (EPA).

Исследование Ртуть в организме женщин детородного возраста в 25 странах проводили для определения распространенности содержания ртути в организме человека в количествах, которые могут вызывать поражение нервной системы и внутренних органов. Присутствующая в организме беременной женщины ртуть может передаваться развивающемуся плоду, подвергая его мощному нейтротоксичному воздействию. Это первое исследование такого рода, в котором производили отбор проб во многих странах и регионах, охватывая женщин детородного возраста.

Исследователи IPEN координировали отбор проб волос 1044 женщин репродуктивного возраста в 37 местах в 25 стран на 6 континентах. Проведенный BRI анализ показал, что у 36% обследованных женщин средние уровни ртути превышали рекомендуемый EPA (Американское агентство по охране окружающей среды)безопасный уровень в 1 мг/кг, при превышении которого может наблюдаться поражение головного мозга, снижение IQ, поражение почек и сердечно-сосудистой системы. Кроме того, было установлено, что у 53% из всех обследованных женщин уровни ртути превышали 0,58 мг/кг – уровень, связанный с началом поражения нервной системы плода.

В этом исследовании были установлены значительно повышенные концентрации ртути в волосах женщин во многих регионах мира, связанные с тремя основными причинами ртутного загрязнения: угольные электростанции (один из основных глобальных источников, приводящий к загрязнению океанов ртутью, которая накапливается в рыбе), артельная и малотоннажная добыча золота (АМДЗ) и местные загрязненные участки, связанные с различными отраслями промышленности и выделяющие ртуть в почву, воду и воздух.

Ключевые результаты:

• На островах Тихого океана, которые располагаются вдали от всех промышленных источников ртути, но где местные жители питаются рыбой в качестве основного продукта питания, у 85,7% женщин наблюдалось превышение порогового уровня в 1 мг/кг, при этом у большинства женщин показатели втрое превышали стандарт EPA.
• Более половины обследованных женщин в Индонезии, Кении, Мьянме и Парагвае, уровни ртути в организме которых превышали 1 мг/кг, были из поселений, в которых производится кустарная добыча золота. За исключением Парагвая, где рыба не является основным источником белка, у 81% женщин уровни ртути превышали 1 мг/кг, а у женщин из двух точек в Индонезии уровни ртути превышали пороговый уровень EPA в три – девять раз.
• У каждой пятой женщины из районов промышленных зон уровни ртути превышали 1 мг/кг. К ним относятся женщины из Непала, Нигерии и Таиланда, где загрязненные участки вызывают загрязнение местных земель, водотоков и источников продовольствия. Кроме того, у женщин, проживающих неподалеку от загрязненных участков в Албании, Чили, Казахстане, Непале и Украине, средние уровни ртути превышали 0,58 мг/кг.

Как отмечает Ли Белл, ведущий исследователь от IPEN, “это исследование демонстрирует растущую угрозу глобального ртутного загрязнения для женщин и детей многих островных государств Тихого океана и для большинства женщин, занятых в кустарной добыче золота. Очень высокие уровни ртути, обнаруженные в волосах этих женщин, указывают на необходимость срочных действий для отказа от угольных электростанций и для прекращения международной торговли ртутью, поступающей в кустарною золотодобычу – двух наиболее значимых причин ртутного загрязнения.”

На следующей неделе, правительства стран со всего мира соберутся в Женеве, Швейцария, чтобы обсудить последующие шаги для нового международного юридически обязывающего соглашения – Минаматской конвенции о ртути. “Наше новое исследование,- говорит Ольга Сперанская, Сопредседатель IPEN и руководитель Программ Центра “Эко-Согласие” –  указывает на необходимость скорейшей подготовки руководящих указаний по определению загрязненных ртутью участков,  на необходимость мониторинга содержания ртути в организме человека и действий для ограничения основных источников ртутного загрязнения – угольных электростанций и АМДЗ”.

“Это исследование указывает на важность глобального сотрудничества в разрешении проблем ртутного загрязнения,” – говорит Девид Иверс, исполнительный директор и ведущий специалист BRI, и соавтор исследования. – “Ртутное загрязнение распространено повсеместно в морских и пресноводных экосистемах по всему миру. Горячие точки ртутного загрязнения биосферы распространены по всему миру и связаны с различной деятельностью человека. Поэтому критически важно продолжать наши усилия по биомониторингу, чтобы отслеживать потенциальные воздействия на местные сообщества и на окружающую среду с целью оценки эффективности Минаматской конвенции.”

Полностью исследование размещено на сайте IPEN по адресу: 
http://ipen.org/site/mercury-women-child-bearing-age-25-countries 

EMBARGOED- UNTIL 15/8/2017, 23:59 PM, Brussels time

Brussels / Yerevan 16 August 2017- Today’s entry into force of the Minamata Convention establishes the first new multilateral environmental agreement in over a decade.  The Zero Mercury Working Group* has been calling for a legally binding treaty for over a decade and welcomes the new protocol.

“While there are alternatives to mercury, there are no alternatives to global cooperation,” said Michael Bender, coordinator of the Zero Mercury Working Group. “Mercury respects no boundaries and exposes people everywhere” Elena Manvelyan, AWHHE President. “Only a global pact can curtail this dangerous neurotoxin.”

In October 2013 the convention text was adopted and signed by 128 countries, but would not take legal effect until at least 50 countries had ratified it formally.  This milestone was reached in May of this year, and the convention will enter into force on August 16. 

“We are now on the right track line.” said Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, Project Manager, European Environmental Bureau and ZMWG co- coordinator.  “Over time, the Convention is expected to provide the necessary technical and financial resources to reduce exposure risks worldwide. Governments must therefore move swiftly towards efficient implementation of the Treaty’s provisions”.

The aim of the Convention is “to protect the human health and the environment” from mercury releases. 

The treaty holds critical obligations for Parties to ban new primary mercury mines while phasing out existing ones and also includes a ban on many common products and processes using mercury, measures to control releases, and a requirement for national plans to reduce mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining.  In addition, it seeks to reduce trade, promote sound storage of mercury and its disposal, address contaminated sites and reduce exposure from this dangerous neurotoxin.

The First Conference of the Parties will take place from 24 to 29 September 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland.  Over 1,000 delegates and around 50 ministers are expected to assemble in Geneva to celebrate and lay the groundwork for the treaty’s overall effectiveness.

The Minamata Convention joins 3 other UN conventions seeking to reduce impacts from chemicals and waste – the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.

###

For more information, see:

http://www.mercuryconvention.org/Negotiations/COP1/tabid/5544/language/en-US/Default.aspx

www.zeromercury.org

Contacts 

Elena Manvelyan, President, Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment (AWHHE) NGO, T: +37410523604, office@awhhe.am

Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, Project Coordinator ‘Zero Mercury Campaign’, European Environmental Bureau, ZMWG International Coordinator
T: +32 2 2891301, elena.lymberidi@eeb.org

Michael Bender, ZMWG International Coordinator, T: +1 802 917 8222,  mercurypolicy@aol.com

Notes to the editors:

Mercury is a global pollutant that travels long distances. Its most toxic form – methylmercury – accumulates in large predatory fish and is taken up in our bodies through eating fish, with the worst impacts on babies in utero and small children. 

*The Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) is an international coalition of over 95 public interest environmental and health non-governmental organizations from more than 50 countries from around the world formed in 2005 by the European Environmental Bureau and the Mercury Policy Project.  ZMWG strives for zero supply, demand, and emissions of mercury from all anthropogenic sources, with the goal of reducing mercury in the global environment to a minimum.  Our mission is to advocate and support the adoption and implementation of a legally binding instrument which contains mandatory obligations to eliminate where feasible, and otherwise minimize, the global supply and trade of mercury, the global demand for mercury, anthropogenic releases of mercury to the environment, and human and wildlife exposure to mercury.

http://www.ciel.org/whats-next-eu-criteria-identify-endocrine-disruptors-legal-map-adoption-process/

Since June 2016, the EU has discussed several draft proposals for scientific criteria to identify endocrine disruptors (EDCs). On July 4^th, representatives of Member States agreed upon the criteria for pesticides. These criteria are far from what would be needed to actually identify, and eventually get rid of, all EDCs, but nothing is set in stone (yet).

So what does this mean?

There is an internationally agreed definition of endocrine disruptors from 2002 from the World Health Organisation’s International Program on Chemical Safety: Global assessment of the state of the science of endocrine disruptors. This definition, however, required further refinement to be applied to EU regulations.

Despite the mandate to develop harmonized hazard-based criteria to identify EDCs, the EU Commission has been focusing its efforts on specifically designing EDC identification criteria in the limited context of only two legal acts: the ‘pesticides regulation’ (plant protection product regulation n°1107/2009) and the ‘biocides regulation’ (biocidal product regulation n°528/2012).

The pesticides and biocides regulations contain a similar provision requiring EDC identification criteria, but the adoption procedure is slightly different in each, requiring two different expert committees and different timing, which impacts the final adoption procedure for the criteria.

What happens to the EDC criteria now under the pesticide regulation?

Under the pesticides regulation, the Commission had to present a proposal to a committee of EU member states – the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SC-PAFF). Since June 2016, the Commission presented and amended the draft five times, until it was finally agreed upon by SC-PAFF on July 4^th.

The adoption procedure under the pesticides regulation, referred to as the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, involves the EU Parliament and Council. The Commission has to submit the text of the criteria to the two institutions. Then, both the Parliament and Council can oppose the criteria if:

• The Commission exceeds the implementing powers provided in the pesticides regulation,
• The criteria are not compatible with the aim or the content of the pesticides regulation, or
• The criteria do not respect the principles of subsidiarity or proportionality.

Both institutions have three months to adopt a decision to oppose the criteria, via a simple majority for the Parliament and qualified majority for the Council (that is 55% of member states, representing at least 65% of total EU population).

If three months expire without action from the Parliament or Council, the criteria are considered adopted and shall be published in the Official Journal of the EU.

There are two reasonable grounds upon which Parliament and the Council should oppose the criteria agreed upon on July 4^th:

1. the criteria contain an exception for substances specifically intended to control target organisms via their endocrine systems, and
2. the very high burden of proof to identify a substance as an EDC.

Opposition from either of these institutions would effectively block final adoption of the criteria. In case of opposition, the Commission may submit amended draft criteria to the SC-PAFF.

The criteria will enter into force twenty days after their publication in the Official Journal of the EU, and –as specifically indicated in the current draft- application will begin six months after its entry into force. 

The EDC criteria in the biocides regulation

Under the biocides regulation, the Commission still has a pending obligation to adopt the criteria through a delegated act after consultation of the Member States Competent Authorities for Biocidal Products. The deadline for adoption expired in 2013, and in 2015, the European Court of Justice condemned the Commission for its delay.

After the adoption of the delegated act, the Commission notifies the Parliament and Council of the criteria, both of which will then have two months to object, extendable by other two months.

The Parliament decision is adopted via a majority vote, while the Council requires a qualified majority. In this case, the institutions are not bound by specific grounds of opposition.

Other EU regulations – beyond biocides and pesticides

The EU 7^th Environmental Action Programme and the EU Better Regulation Agenda mandated that the Commission develop horizontal criteria applicable across EU regulations, to account for the presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals in products other than pesticides and biocides. However, the nearly adopted criteria are narrowly designed for application within the biocides and pesticides regulations to the exclusion of all other areas where EDCs exist.

While the medical devices regulation directly refers to the criteria under the biocides regulation, other areas of EU law remain in a regulatory void. As a result of the flawed, narrow, sectoral approach chosen by the Commission and validated by the member states, endocrine disruptors are not only escaping identification in pesticides, biocides, and medical devices in contact with the most vulnerable, but also remain unregulated in entire product markets such as cosmetics, toys, and food contact material.

In the frame of the joint WECF France – AWHHE, Armenia project entitled “Sustainable Agriculture for Women in Armenia”  the mission of the French Delegation took place  on 20-24 June 2017. The delegation visited the Women Resource Agricultural Center in Solak, Kotayk region where the training on eco soap production for women of 3 targeted villages (Ditak, Solak and Voskevan) was conducted.