Mercury ban agreed – Global treaty to control neurotoxin
Global treaty to control neurotoxin
OVER 120 nations have agreed to have legally binding measures to control the pollution by mercury, a neurotoxin. Formal negotiations for the treaty will begin in 2010.
The agreement, reached at the 25th session of the Governing Council of the UN Environment Programme (unep) in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, is a change from previous years, when major powers, including the US, China and India, sought voluntary reductions. On February 18, they agreed to consider the binding treaty.
Some countries, including India, had earlier said a legally binding agreement is not necessary for unintentional mercury emissions. It was supported by China and Indonesia.
“Switzerland agreed that different mechanisms were necessary for unintentional and intentional emissions, but stressed that all mercury emissions must be addressed under the legally binding measures,”
said Prashant Pastore of Toxic Link, Delhi-based non-profit, who attended the meeting. Continue reading »
Filed under Environment, News, Pollution | Tags: Developing Countries, European Union (EU), India, Kenya, Mercury, Pesticides And Toxins | Comment (0)On Tenterhooks in Geneva – Developing countries push for markets at WTO Mini-Ministerial
Developing countries push for markets at WTO mini-ministerial
Farmers’ associations all over India were holding protests demanding exclusion of agriculture as an agenda in the World Trade Organization (wto) talks, even as the organization’s mini-ministerial debated ways to secure “meaningful market access in agriculture, manufacturing and services”. At the time this magazine went to press, farmers’ groups were apprehensive that the Union minister for commerce might sign a deal at this meet in Geneva allowing the entry of cheap agricultural products from the developed world. “That would be the last nail in the coffin of small farming in India,” said Sheelu Francis of the Tamil Nadu Women’s Collective, an organization representing over a lakh agriculture workers in the state.
The draft for negotiations for the Geneva ministerial—the third draft on the matter—did not accede to most demands of developing countries, the principal one being substantial cuts in subsidies offered to farmers in the us and European Union. These subsidies end up lowering prices of agricultural products in the developed countries below the production cost of farmers in developing countries, giving the former unfair market advantage. Continue reading »
Filed under Agriculture, Environment, India, News | Tags: * Imports, Agriculture, Developing Countries, European Union (EU), Farmers, Food Security, India, Subsidies, Trade, WTO | Comment (0)EU Bans Indian Guar Gum
The guar gum trade in India has suffered a setback after the European Union (EU) banned import of non-certified guar gum from India. The move came after dioxins and pentachlorophenols were found in a consignment delivered by India Glycol, a Delhi-based exporter.
India is the leading exporter of guar gum, constituting about 80 per cent of the global production. It is being exported to other countries since 1956. Guar gum is derived from guar seeds (cluster beans), a legume crop that grows in semi-arid regions of the subcontinent. It is used as a thickening agent and as an additive in food products. Continue reading »
Filed under Agriculture, India, News | Tags: * Dioxin, * Food Additives, * Food Standards, * Imports, * Legumes, * Rajasthan, * Uttaranchal (Uttarakhand), European Union (EU), Food Contamination, India, Trade | Comment (1)