OTTAWA, ON —  The Canadian government wants to add mercury compounds to it toxics law in order to broaden its reach for regulating mercury releases.

Although elemental mercury is already in the Schedule 1 List of Toxic Substances in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act of 1999, the government wants that expanded to read "mercury and its compounds," since the current designation does not cover those compounds, which can contribute to the increase of more toxic forms of mercury, like methylmercury, in the environment. Methylmercury, for example, is toxic, persists in the environment and accumulates in organisms.

Broadening the law's reach would let the government move forward on actions it has proposed for managing such sources of mercury in the future.

In 2003, the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme accepted the findings of the UNEP Global Mercury Assessment Report, which said there is enough evidence of global impacts from mercury and mercury compounds from human activities that international action should be taken to reduce risks.

Research in the report found that levels of mercury in Arctic ringed seals and beluga whales in some areas of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland increased between twofold and fourfold in the last 25 years. About 30 percent of Ontario lakes that were surveyed have small fish that contain 0.3 parts per million mercury, the suggested threshold for avoiding severe reproductive problems in birds that eat fish.

The proposed addition of mercury compounds is open to a 60-day comment period, which ends Aug. 11.

_{Ontario lake - CC license by Flickr user Яick Harris}