A/HRC/15/22 neurological disorders, linked to long-term exposure to hazardous pesticides.22 According to an authoritative British medical journal, in many parts of the developing world pesticide poisoning is a serious public health problem, which causes more deaths than infectious diseases.23 36. The Special Rapporteur has on a number of occasions considered the adverse human rights impact of hazardous chemicals, including pesticides. In his report to the sixty-second session of the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2006/42), the Special Rapporteur focused on the risks that chronic, low-level exposure to toxic chemicals, including pesticides, pose to the enjoyment of the right to life, the right to health, the right of access to information and participation in decision-making processes. The Special Rapporteur has also dealt with a number of communications concerning transnational corporations based in industrialized countries that continue exporting to developing countries hazardous chemicals that are banned in their countries of origin in view of their serious adverse effects on human health and the environment. 37. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the progress made at the international level in the field of international chemicals management. At its fourth meeting, held in Geneva from 4 to 8 May 2009, the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention decided to extend the scope of the Convention to include nine new chemicals, many of which are still widely used.24 The second session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM-2) reviewed progress in the implementation of SAICM since its adoption in 2006, and adopted a resolution calling for appropriate action on four emerging policy issues that have not been generally recognized, or sufficiently addressed.25 Such progress, although encouraging, is not sufficient to address the main weaknesses of the existing international legal framework for chemical safety, and particularly the legal loopholes that continue to allow the transfer of polluting industries or the export to developing countries of hazardous chemicals that are banned or severely restricted in industrialized countries. Such weaknesses and the increase in the global production, trade and use of chemicals would continue to require the consideration of the mandate in the next years to come. 2. New areas requiring attention Mercury 38. Mercury is a heavy metal that is widespread and persistent in the environment. It is a naturally occurring element and can be released into the air as vapour during natural processes, such as volcanic activity or forest fires, or as a result of anthropogenic activities such as industrial processes, mining, deforestation, waste incineration and burning of fossil fuels. Coal-fired power production is today deemed the single largest global source of atmospheric mercury emissions. Mercury in the air eventually settles into water or onto land where it can be washed into water. Once deposited in water, mercury bio-accumulates in the aquatic food chain, which may lead to high concentrations in fish, shellfish, and marine mammals. 22 23 24 25 12 International POPs Elimination Network, An NGO Guide to Hazardous Pesticides and SAICM, 2009, p. 11. M. Eddleston et al., “Pesticide Poisoning in the Developing World – A Minimum Pesticides List”, The Lancet, vol. 360, No. 9340, 12 October 2002, pp. 1163–1167. See UNEP/POPS/COP.4/SC-4/10 to SC-4/18. Resolution II/4 on Emerging policy issues. GE.10-14907