Jerusalem, January 2013

In a commitment to grant the public access to transparent emissions data, Israel acceded last week to a UN protocol on air pollution release and monitoring.

  Geneva, January 2013

The fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC 5) to Prepare a Global Legally Binding Instrument on Mercury opened on 13 January 2013, in Geneva, Switzerland. INC 5 is expected to complete negotiations on a global treaty text to regulate mercury use, with a view to adopting the treaty at a diplomatic conference to be held in Minamata, Japan, in October 2013.

On Monday, INC5 delegates met in plenary in the morning and afternoon, to address emissions and releases, supply and trade, artisanal and small-scale gold mining, and waste. Contact groups on selected technical articles and on technology transfer convened in the morning and evening. A contact group on emissions and releases met in the afternoon, followed by a Friends of the Co-Chairs group in the evening.

USA, November 2012

Although industrial chemicals called PCBs have been banned for more than three decades, a new study suggests that the pollutants could be making it harder for some people to have a baby today.

Couples with high levels of certain chemicals in their bodies took about 20% longer to conceive compared with those with lower exposures, says the study from the National Institutes of Health.

New York, November 2012

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Suffolk County are to collect and properly dispose of potentially hazardous common household products from flood-damaged homes in Suffolk County. Beginning on November 12, people in affected homes may bring household products, including solvents, paints, cleaners, oil, propane tanks, batteries, petroleum products, weed/bug killers, car batteries, bleach and ammonia, to one of four drop-off locations. In addition, starting on November 12, residents of Islip, Babylon, Patchogue, Mastic Beach and Riverhead can put waste products on the curb for pickup.

Washington, October 2012

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) recently announced that it set up a Web-based pollution information system that gives the public access  to basic information on emissions of registered pollutant sources.

The establishment of the information inquiry system, prtr.epa.gov.tw, is based on the principle of open government information and the public’s right to know, the EPA’s Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information said.

  Manila, September 2012.

Recently in the Phillipines, environmental activists led by international advocacy group Greenpeace called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to come up with a pollution disclosure system for industrial firms to warn the public about chemicals dumped in waterways.

During the launch of the three-week "right-to-know" Water Patrol Expendition along Marikina River, the environmental activists called on the government to install a mechanism, such as the Pollution Release and Transfer Registry (PRTR).