New mercury rules would ban button batteries
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Environment Minister Peter Kent said the move would eliminate 4.5 tonnes of mercury in products entering the marketplace each year.
“Mercury is a neurotoxin. Ingesting methylmercury can affect the neurodevelopment and learning ability of small children. Keeping products that contain mercury out of the marketplace helps to protect the health of Canadians,” said Aglukkaq.
The products include thermometers, button batteries and measuring instruments such as barometers.
The government, however, will still allow some mercury-containing products to continue to be manufactured and imported, including scientific instruments, dental fillings and compact fluorescent lamps.
Dental fillings, the government background paper explained, are a mixture of metals that do not appear to pose a risk to health and they are inexpensive compared to the alternatives.
The ministers say there will be limits on the amount of mercury allowed in different types of fluorescent lamps.
There will also be improved label information for consumers about the level of mercury in the products and how to safely dispose of them.
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MONTREAL - Quebec Premier François Legault has closed the door on nuclear power, at least for now.
"For the time being, we're not touching it," said Legault when asked about the subject at a press scrum in New York on Tuesday.
The government is looking for new sources of energy. In an interview with The Canadian Press at Quebec's official residence in New York, Legault said there are a number of avenues to explore:
- Energy efficiency.
- Negotiations with Newfoundland and Labrador over Churchill Falls and Gull Island.
- Upgrading existing dams and building new ones.
"Nuclear power is not on the agenda," he said.
Yet the premier seemed…
