While the Minamata Convention allows countries to continue to use mercury in medical measuring devices until 2030 under certain special circumstances, WHO and the nongovernmental organization Health Care without Harm believe that the potential negative health consequences from mercury are so great that all should strive to meet the main target date of 2020 set out in the Convention.
“With the signing of the Minamata Convention on Mercury we will be going a long way in protecting the world forever from the devastating health consequences from mercury,” says WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan.
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汞是引起重大公共卫生关注的十大化学品之一。
“Mercury is one of the top ten chemicals of major public health concern and is a substance which disperses into and remains in ecosystems for generations, causing severe ill health and intellectual impairment to exposed populations.”
The Convention provides a blueprint for country action to eliminate the most harmful forms of mercury use, reduce mercury emissions from industry, promote mercury free methods, protect children and women of childbearing age from mercury exposure, and take steps to improve workers health and well-being.
“WHO will tackle the critical areas of concern of mercury exposure and we will work with governments to ensure that they can meet their obligations under the Convention, especially those in the areas of healthcare,” says Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director for Public Health and Environment.
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我们将与各国政府合作，确保它们能够履行其在《公约》下承担的义务，特别是在卫生保健领域承担的义务。
“This calls for the phase out of mercury fever thermometers and sphygmomanometers (a device for measuring blood pressure) in health care under the Mercury-Free Healthcare by 2020.”
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世卫组织及其卫生部门的合作伙伴将进一步努力：
WHO and its health sectorpartners will furthermore work to: