Minamata and the health risks of mercury
The Minamata Convention calls for all economic activity based around mercury to
be phased out by 2020, and Germany is a signatory of this convention. As of 2020,
products containing mercury—such as energy-saving lamps or mercury-vapour
lamps in projectors—should not be produced or traded. Minamata is the name of a
city in Japan in which a mercury disaster claimed a large number of victims 50
years ago. As a Japanese company, CASIO therefore gained an awareness of the
dangers posed by this heavy metal very early on. The company developed an
alternative to mercury-vapour lamps, which are still used in countless projectors —
in classrooms, conference rooms and private homes. CASIO projectors have been
mercury-free since 2010.
50 years ago, a disaster was uncovered in the coastal Japanese city of Minamata: For years,
the chemical company Chisso had been dumping waste water containing mercury into the
bay on the shores of the city — poisoning countless people in the process. Many suffered
from paralysis as well as nerve and organ damage, and children were born with deformities.
At least 2000 Japanese people have since died as a result of chronic mercury poisoning. The
number of people affected is now estimated to be as high as 30,000. The Japanese
government kept the "Minamata disease" a secret for a long time in order to avoid weakening
industrial growth. To date, no official study regarding the extent of the environmental pollution
has been carried out.1
There is only one way to reliably avoid accidents of this kind: the systematic phasing out of
mercury production. As our economy is now globally interconnected, all countries must pull
together. Such a feat has already been achieved with the insecticide DDT and CFC
propellants (chlorofluorocarbons). The task now is to remove mercury from all products
worldwide. This is one of the most important objectives of the Minamata Convention.
The Minamata Convention
In January 2013, more than 140 states met in Geneva to agree on the content of a mercury
convention put together by the United Nations: the so-called Minamata Convention. More
than 90 member states—including Germany and the European Union—signed the
1
http://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/article1273071/Die-verheimlichte-Giftkatastrophe.html
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agreement in October 2013 in the Japanese city of Kumamoto. The aim is to reduce mercury
emissions around the world, thereby protecting people and the environment.
The Minamata Convention consists of 35 paragraphs and 5 appendices, and regulates the
various exposures to mercury. Once the Convention enters into force, the contracting states
will not be permitted to open any more mercury mines. They will have to implement health
and safety measures for gold mining and use the best available technology for new coal-fired
power plants to protect against mercury emissions. Particular emphasis is placed on the use
of mercury in end products. The signatories will be obliged to stop manufacturing or selling
products containing mercury such as batteries, lighting appliances, cosmetics, soaps,
switches or thermometers from 2020 onwards. Waste from the highly toxic heavy metal may
only be stored and disposed of under strict conditions. 2
The Minamata Convention will enter into force as soon as the minimum number of 50 states
have ratified it. This is expected to be the case in 2016/17: The agreement has already been
signed by 128 states and ratified by 20. The first state to ratify the agreement was the United
States in 2013. Most recently, Mexico, Mongolia, the United Arab Emirates and a number of
other countries all agreed to forgo the toxic heavy metal in 2015. 3 4 5
Mercury in products — a highly toxic yet popular choice
For a long time, manufacturers were unaware of any efficient or environmentally-friendly
alternative to Mercury that contained the same properties. For example, due to its high
thermal density, mercury was used in thermometers for many years. In batteries, the heavy
metal provided a high level of energy density.6 With regard to street lighting, towns and cities
benefited from the high light intensity of lamps containing mercury. But those days are gone:
Strict EU directives now ensure that mercury is no longer used for these products. For other
products containing mercury, statutory thresholds apply — but not for projectors. Despite the
high mercury content of up to 45 mg, conventional projectors continue to use this toxic light
2
http://www.bmub.bund.de/themen/gesundheit-chemikalien/gesundheit-und-umwelt/die-quecksilber-konvention-
der-vereinten-nationen/
3
http://www.mercuryconvention.org
4https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/378/dokumente/umsoress_kurzsteckbrief_minamata
_final.pdf
5
http://www.bmub.bund.de/themen/gesundheit-chemikalien/gesundheit-und-umwelt/die-quecksilber-konvention-
der-vereinten-nationen
http://www.netdoktor.at/gesundheit/fitness/wie-macht-sich-eine-quecksilber-vergiftung-bemerkbar-5211
6
http://www.chemie.de/lexikon/Quecksilber.html
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source. The EU's RoHS directive—the Restriction of Hazardous Substances—supports
manufacturers by allowing for the continued use of mercury-vapour lamps until such a time
when new technologies have been sufficiently developed. However, all countries party to the
Minamata Convention will need a solution by 2020 at the latest: From then on, companies
will be obliged to stop the production and sale of products containing mercury.
CASIO — a pioneer of alternative light technology
As a Japanese technology company, CASIO became aware of the Minamata challenge very
early on and felt obliged to comply with the guidelines of the Convention as soon as possible.
Since the beginning of this century, the company has been researching a mercury-free light
source for projectors. The biggest obstacle has been that—in certain colour ranges—pure
LED lamps do not possess the light intensity that projectors require to produce brilliant
results even in daylight. Therefore, CASIO developed a hybrid laser technology that is
unique throughout the world. This technology combines LED modules with lasers: An LED
module generates the red light while a laser with an upstream colour wheel provides the blue
and green. The result is a mercury-free light source that produces up to 4000 ANSI lumens
and provides illumination for up to 20,000 hours without any loss of quality. During that time,
users of conventional projectors would need to replace up to nine mercury-vapour lamps.
The first manufacturer of mercury-free projectors
This development saw CASIO meet the deadline of the Minamata Convention to stop
producing products by 2020 with ten years to spare. The company is now the world's only
manufacturer of projectors to convert its entire range to an environmentally-friendly, mercuryfree light source, which it did in 2010. By abandoning a substance as dangerous as mercury,
CASIO is helping to minimise environmental damage significantly. In addition, the low level of
power consumption produces a reduction in CO2 emissions. Another positive side effect:
Electricity costs are lowered by up to 40 percent compared to conventional projectors
equipped with mercury-vapour lamps.
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Mercury: Widespread to this day
Minamata disease has shown how dangerous mercury is when it enters the body.7 As was
this case in the Japanese coastal town, mercury can enter the food chain as a chemical
waste product through the contamination of water. Furthermore, coal-fired power plants in
particular and the deliberate use of mercury in ore mining and gold extraction result in an
estimated 1,960 tonnes of mercury being released into the atmosphere every year.8 Experts
state that chronic mercury exposure has a dramatic impact on humans and the environment,
and have found that it can lead to neurological damage in children as well as diseases such
as Alzheimer's.9 In everyday life, we encounter mercury in the form of dental amalgams and
lighting fixtures. For a long time, mercury-vapour lamps were used in street lighting, but
these are increasingly being replaced. However, in the projectors of countless interactive
whiteboards and conference rooms, mercury-vapour lamps are still used as standard. If
these lamps drop and break while being replaced or disposed of, the toxic heavy metal can
escape. Broken energy-saving lamps contain a relatively small amount of approximately two
milligrams of mercury10. According to experts, if the room is immediately ventilated and
vacated, and the broken lamp is disposed of correctly, there will be no adverse health
effects.11 For lamps such as those used in conventional projectors, people may come into
contact with 12 to 45 mg of mercury12 — a risk that the German Navy, for example, no longer
wants to take. For fear of lamp breakages on the high seas, only mercury-free CASIO
projectors are used in some command centres of naval vessels.
Conclusion
Since the 1970s, an increasing number of environmental laws, directives and regional
agreements have been introduced that attempt to limit mercury emissions around the world.
The toxic heavy metal is also gradually disappearing from many products in everyday use.
However, environmental organisations such as Greenpeace still warn against
underestimating the danger of mercury and are pushing for further restrictions.13 Following
7
http://www.netdoktor.at/gesundheit/fitness/wie-macht-sich-eine-quecksilber-vergiftung-bemerkbar-5211
8
https://www.swp-berlin.org/fileadmin/contents/products/aktuell/2013A10_sin.pdf
9
https://www.greenpeace.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/greenpeace-studie-bundesregierung-unterschaetzt-
gesundheitsgefahr-durch
10
https://www.test.de/Quecksilber-in-Energiesparlampen-Keine-Panik-4179935-0/
11
https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/themen/klima-energie/energiesparen/licht/haeufige-fragen-thema-licht
12 https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/378/publikationen/hgp_quecksilber_05.08.2014.pdf
(page 13)
13
https://www.greenpeace.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/greenpeace-studie-bundesregierung-unterschaetzt-
gesundheitsgefahr-durch
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the Minamata Convention of 2013, the proposal for a worldwide ban on the toxic heavy metal
has moved further into the spotlight. Since then, 124 states have endeavoured to reduce
emissions and research alternative technologies in order to find a successful replacement for
mercury used in production. Today's companies are being asked to take on this challenge —
so that events such as those in Minamata are not repeated. With the development of a hybrid
laser light technology, CASIO is playing a pioneering role in this task.
For further information, visit www.casio-projectors.eu or www.casio-europe.com
For press enquiries:
Dirk Herzog
Mann beißt Hund – Agentur für Kommunikation GmbH
Telephone: +49 40 890 696 28
Fax: +49 40 890 696 20
Email: [email protected]
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