Agreement: Project to determine mercury level
The study will be carried out in twin cities, Peshawar and Lahore.
The mercury air monitoring would be carried out with Lumex mercury analyser. PHOTO: FILE
A new project is being launched to determine the level of mercury in major Pakistani cities — Islamabad, Rawalpindi,Peshawar and Lahore — said a press release.
The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and the Brussels-based European Environment Bureau (EEB) will collaborate for the study.
The contract was signed on Thursday by EEB Secretary Jeremey Wates and SDPI Executive Director Dr Abid Qayyum Suleri.
Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, project manager, and Dr Mahmood A Khwaja, SDPI senior adviser on chemicals and sustainable industrial development, will be the focal persons for the project activities, which would be undertaken with the support of the ministry of disaster management and environmental protection agencies.
The mercury air monitoring would be carried out with Lumex mercury analyser.
The monitoring sites would be in and outside dental clinics, light manufacturing products industry, chlor-alkali plants, hospital incinerators and waste sites.
Mercury poses risks to environment and human health, especially of children.
Early in January, 140 countries in Geneva adopted a ground-breaking, world’s first legally binding treaty on mercury, limiting the use and emission of health-hazardous mercury.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2013.