China's legislature mulls ratifying treaty to cut mercury

BEIJING - An international treaty to reduce harmful mercury emissions was submitted to China's top legislature for approval on Monday.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury was submitted by the State Council to the bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, which runs from Monday to Thursday.

The NPC Foreign Affairs Committee suggested in a report to lawmakers that the treaty should be ratified at this session as its content is in line with the principles of Chinese law as well as the country's interests and needs.

Approval of the convention will help protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury, strengthen the public's awareness in preventing mercury pollution, and accelerate industry restructuring, according to the report.

The legally binding global treaty was signed by the chief engineer of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Wan Bentai, on behalf of China, on Oct 10, 2013 in Kumamoto, Japan.

The treaty takes its name from the Japanese city of Minamata, where methylmercury from the city's industrial wastewater killed hundreds and left many more disabled in the 1950s.

China, the world's top mercury producer, user and emitter, has long been fighting mercury pollution to protect human health and the environment.

As of Nov 2, 2015, 128 countries and regional economic integration organizations had signed the convention and 18 of them, including the United States, had ratified it.