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Resolution 1816 (2011)
Health hazards of heavy metals and other metals
1. The Parliamentary Assembly is concerned
that, in their health policies, the member states of the Council of
Europe pay insufficient attention to the health hazards of metals,
for which there is sound scientific evidence in many cases. There
is increasing evidence that the permanent exposure of human beings
to small doses of substances such as aluminium, cadmium, mercury
or lead could be one of the co-determinants of certain neurological,
cardiovascular or autoimmune illnesses.
2. Given the right of every individual to a healthy environment,
preventive health strategies to reduce human exposure to such harmful
substances should be a political priority. This is made all the
more urgent by the high actual cost of heavy metals, which are strongly
suspected of contributing to chronic medical conditions that in
turn place a heavy burden on national health insurance funds.
3. In addition to the immediate political and legislative action
that is needed, in accordance with the precautionary principle,
scientific research on all the complex features of heavy metals
should continue. This will help to establish a causal link between
the presence of heavy metals in the human environment and some human
illnesses, identify more appropriate responses to these illnesses
and adopt industrial processes and treatment methods in line with
the best current scientific knowledge.
4. To strengthen national policies, the right of every human
being to a healthy environment should be more securely anchored
and reinforced in international standards, including those of the
Council of Europe. The Assembly has already made repeated appeals
in this respect, for example by adopting Recommendation 1885 (2009) on drafting
an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights
concerning the right to a healthy environment, but to date the Committee
of Ministers has done nothing tangible to follow up on this.
5. All action relating to heavy metals can be placed in an international
context in which the threats that these substances pose to human
health and the environment are increasingly recognised. For instance,
the European Union is currently reviewing its Community strategy
on mercury until the end of 2011, and negotiations are under way
as part of the United Nations Environment Programme to draw up a
binding international instrument on mercury by 2013. The Council
of Europe member states should take an active part in these negotiations
and act as pioneers in the movement towards innovative health and
environment policies.
6. The Assembly notes that the scientific and medical knowledge
regarding heavy metals has reached such a level that there is no
longer any reason to defer practical action to reduce their presence
or eliminate them from the human environment and hence to alleviate
their impact on people’s health. It therefore calls on all the member
states to support an innovative political approach to the issue
and take the following comprehensive measures:
6.1. identify heavy metals and their
health hazards as health and environment policy priorities, while adopting
the precautionary principle endorsed in Recommendation 1787 (2007) on the
precautionary principle and responsible risk management. In so doing,
states should focus on eliminating as many heavy metals as possible
from the human environment, preventing the bioaccumulation of such substances
in the natural environment, the food chain and, finally, the human
body, preventing and treating chronic conditions caused by them
and providing special protection for the most vulnerable;
6.2. in the European Union and in other international settings,
promote the establishment of stricter rules on the production, use
and import of products containing heavy metals, including specific
limits concerning exposure to heavy metals, in particular for the
most vulnerable people, to be established in collaboration with
the World Health Organization;
6.3. organise and facilitate exchanges of knowledge and good
practice between specialised national authorities so that they can
acquire more information on the subject and take inspiration from
successful policy measures adopted elsewhere.
7. The Assembly urges all member states to take the following
preventive measures in respect of the most toxic heavy metals, such
as mercury:
7.1. prohibit or limit,
wherever possible and appropriate, the use of heavy metals by industry, agriculture
and by the medical sector, and where the latter is concerned, particularly
by restricting or prohibiting the use of amalgam for dental fillings;
7.2. promote the broad dissemination of information on the
health effects of heavy metals to allow all professionals and consumers
to make informed choices with regard to matters such as medical treatment
methods, consumer products, food and means of transport, without
having to wait for more radical political measures;
7.3. promote scientific and technological research on means
of replacing heavy metals in all industrial and agricultural processes
and medical treatment in the long term, while setting up strongly
regulated systems to prevent conflicts of interest for the experts
involved, such as those referred to in Assembly Recommendation 1908
(2010) on lobbying in a democratic society (European code of good
conduct on lobbying), by notably supporting medical research in
this field;
7.4. where heavy metals cannot be replaced immediately, reduce
their entry into, and bioaccumulation in, the natural and human
environment as much as possible, among other measures by requiring
all users and emitters of heavy metals, including dentists, to install
efficient anti-pollution and filtering equipment.
8. At international and European standard-setting levels, promotion
of the right to health and the right to a healthy environment as
fundamental human rights must continue. In this respect, the Assembly
calls on the member states to continue to promote the idea in the
Council of Europe of an additional protocol to the European Convention
on Human Rights concerning the right to a healthy environment as
proposed by its Recommendation
1885 (2009). Furthermore, it considers that 2011 – the
year of the 50th anniversary and 15th anniversary respectively of
the European Social Charter and the revised European Social Charter
– would be an ideal time to introduce the right to a healthy environment
into the revised European Social Charter, for example under Article
11 on the right to protection of health.