Daniel Reifsnyder, the deputy assistant secretary of state for environment and sustainable development, told a global gathering of environmental ministers in Nairobi that the United States wants negotiations on limiting mercury to begin this year and conclude within three.
"We're prepared to help lead in developing a globally legally binding instrument," he said. "It is clear mercury is the most important global chemical issue facing us today that calls for immediate action."
The statement represented a "180-degree turnaround" from policy under the Bush administration, said Michael Bender, co-coordinator of the Zero Mercury Working Group, a global coalition of 75 environmental organizations working to reduce mercury exposure.
"The change is like night and day. The Bush administration opposed any international legal agreements on mercury and President Obama is in office less than one month and is already supporting a global agreement," he said.
Bender said his group has had more discussions over mercury control in the past two weeks than they have in the last eight years and that the US government included many of their ideas in the proposal they are presented in Nairobi.
Mercury is also widely used in chemical production and small-scale mining. The toxin can travel thousands of miles through the air or water.
America's Food and Drug Administration advises expectant mothers to limit weekly consumption to 6 ounces of albacore tuna or 12 ounces of "light" tuna, the health effects of which are still being scientifically debated. California authorities have been locked in a five-year legal battle to force tuna companies to paste warning labels on their product about potentially harmful mercury levels.
While substitutes exist for almost all industrial processes that require mercury, more than 50 percent of mercury emissions come from coal-fueled power plants, complicating efforts to regulate it in countries that rely on coal for power.
A US-drafted proposal obtained by The Associated Press would form a negotiating committee with the UN environment program to help countries reduce their mercury use, clean up contaminated sites, and find environmentally sound ways to store mercury.
The European Union has already banned mercury exports starting in 2011. The United States has a similar ban that will be effective 2013, legislation that was sponsored by Obama when he was a senator.
