By Iddi
Yire, GNA
Accra, Aug. 7, GNA – Dr Sam Adu-Kumi,
Director, Chemicals Control and Management Centre/Registrar of Pesticides,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday called for public education on
the Minamata Convention on Mercury, to protect the health of the people.
“Awareness and education of the public and
sensitisation of decision makers is key for the successful implementation of
the Minamata Convention in Ghana,” Dr Adu-Kumi stated at a Stakeholder
Engagement Workshop for the Health Sector on the Minamata Convention in Accra.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global
treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of
mercury.
The Convention, which was adopted by the
Conference of Plenipotentiaries held in Minamata and Kumamoto, Japan, in 2013,
focuses on limiting and ultimate phasing-out of mercury and mercury
related/containing products from all sectors.
The objective of the Convention is to protect
human health and the environment from the anthropogenic emissions and releases
of mercury and mercury compounds.
It prohibits a range of products containing
mercury, including batteries, compact fluorescent lamps, switches and relays,
soaps and cosmetics, thermometers, and blood pressure devices.
Also prohibited are vaccines containing
mercury, as well as dental fillings, which use mercury amalgam.
Dr Adu-Kumi said Mercury was a very poisonous
substance, which when ingested or inhaled might produce significant adverse
neurological and other health effects such as digestive and immune system
dysfunction, diseases of the lungs, kidney, skin and the eyes.
He said the harmful effects of mercury on
vulnerable populations, particularly unborn children, children, and women of
child-bearing age (especially pregnant women) were of particular concern.
He said mercury could persist in the
environment, bio- accumulate through the food web and pose a risk of causing
adverse effect to human health and the environment.
Ghana ratified the Convention in 2017 and had
asked for extension of the deadline to phase out/down mercury uses from the
health and other sectors to 2025, which had been granted.
The workshop was on the theme; “Minamata
Convention: Roles and Responsibilities of Ghana’s health sector”.
It was organised by the United Nations
Development Programme – Global Environment Facility (UNDP-GEF), in
collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Ghana Health Service
(GHS), and in partnership with Ecological Restorations, to sensitise and raise
awareness among relevant stakeholders on the Minamata Convention.
The United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) categorises Mercury as a “global threat to human and environmental
health” because of its harmful effects on human health and environmental
ecosystems.
Dr Adu-Kumi said although mercury was a naturally
occurring element, human activities (mainly industrial sources- the combustion
of fossil fuels, mining, smelting, waste combustion) had increased the amount
of mercury accumulated into the atmosphere and the natural environment as a
whole.
He noted that the biggest mercury releases
come from coal-fired power stations and usage of mercury to separate gold
ore-bearing rock, mainly Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASGM).
He said in the 2010 global inventory conducted
by the UNEP, ASGM was responsible for the major source of mercury emitted into
the atmosphere at 727 tonnes per year.
He said dental amalgamation, cement production
and the production of iron were other anthropogenic activities that account for
large sources of global emissions of mercury into the air.
Dr Edith Clarke, a former Project Director,
GHS, said the UNDP, in collaboration with the MoH and GHS, with funding from
the GEF through the Medical Waste Management project, had initiated a mercury
phase out approach in five model facilities.
The facilities were the Cape Coast Teaching
Hospital; the Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua; the Trauma and Specialist
Hospital, Winneba, Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi; and the Tegbi
Health Center, Tegbi, Volta Region.
She said in all five facilities about 225
non-mercury containing thermometers and 218 BP apparatus have been supplied to
replace mercury containing ones.
Dr Carl Osei, Director, UNDP – GEF Medical
Waste Project, Minamata Convention Ghana, called for a national action plan for
the implementation of the Minamata Convention.
Dr Crentsil Kofi Bempah, Technical Expert for
the Minamata Initial Assessment (MIA), presented a report on the current
estimated mercury releases from the health sector and populations at risk.
GNA