Environmental, health, and consumer groups are gathering today in Madrid to urge the Spanish government to stop the Almadén mercury operation from polluting the planet and poisoning millions of people worldwide. The mercury is often used in leaking chlor-alkali plants in India, battery production in Asia and artisanal gold mining in Africa, South America, Asia-where upwards of 13 million miners are unknowingly poisoned with mercury each year.

“People from around the world have a right to ask how many more will be needlessly poisoned by mercury before nations like Spain stop the toxic trade in mercury forever ” said Michael Bender of the Ban Mercury Working Group, a global coalition of 28 nongovernmental groups formed to stop mercury pollution. “It's time for MAYASA to stop trading poisons for profits.”

While the mining has stopped in Almadén, the facility continues to export this deadly toxin around the globe from its stockpiles and from trading chlor alkali mercury, a sector of chemical manufacturing that has historically relied upon a mercury-based production process, but one that is now phasing out mercury use in Western Europe. According to recent press reports, the Almadén mine “has plenty of stocks left it can convert” into mercury while serving as the main trader for the EU chlor alkali industry-typically selling off 500 tons of excess mercury per year primarily to developing countries, resulting in widespread human exposure and pollution.

To avert this global mercury exposure crisis, concrete and immediate action must be taken to harmonise efforts to phase out mercury use, trade and release, say advocates. “The Spanish Government should start talks today to close the mine and ban mercury trade and not wait until 2011, as the recent EC Mercury Strategy proposes,” said Elena Lymberidi of the European Environmental Bureau. “Failure to do so will result in continued contamination of fish-one of the world's most important protein sources-and the poisoning of people the world over, including Spain.”

Over the past half-century, research has clarified what many have long feared: human health is compromised by even smaller concentrations of mercury than previously assumed. Estimates for “safe” exposure to methylmercury have dropped many times. In 2003, the international scientific committee JECFA recommended cutting the WHO exposure standards for methylmercury in half from 3.3 per µg/kg body per week to 1.6 µg/kg body per week
“Clearly, its time for the Spanish Government to commit to ending all activities at the Almadén mercury operation,” said Leticia Baselga, from Ecologistas en Accion. Genon Jensen of the European Public Health Alliance – Environment Network added “It's time to stop allowing the deadly dealing of mercury. Governments and the public alike need to understand better just how damaging even low levels of mercury can be to people's health, particularly mothers-to-be and their unborn babies, and demand an immediate stop to this global poisoning of our food chain and planet.”
To raise awareness on the impacts of mercury and the fact that action needs to be taken immediately at European and international level, the European Environmental Bureau in cooperation with their member organisation Ecologistas en Accion, has organised today's international conference “Towards a Mercury Free World”. More than 80 participants from several countries of the EU, Norway, US, India, Brazil, China, Peru will participate, including representatives from the European Commission, national ministries, industry, universities, research institutes, hospitals, environment and health non-governmental organisations.

Background on mercury