Minamata Convention on Mercury: Italy among the first countries to sign
The signature ceremony of Minamata Convention on Mercury recently occurred, in the same japanese city affected by the serious environmental and health disaster caused by high industrial pollution from mercury in the mid-20th Century. The city gave also the name to the neurological syndrome that local people contracted after eating mercury-contaminated seafood from Minamata. At the Conference participated all the plenipotentiaries delegates from all countries that last January agreed on the text of the Treaty. The Convention opened for signature and signed from 92 countries Italy among them, is the final result of four years of negotiations and provides for controls and reductions across a range of products, processes and industries where mercury is used, released or emitted.