Finnland-Forum

Svea schrieb am 27.10.2006 19:16
ich dachte, dass es gerade als Vegetarier wichtig sei, viel Milchprodukte, Käse etc. zu essen?!

Health Risk of Mercury in Fish Ignored

The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation finds that Finland's mercury problem is greatly downplayed. The organisation states that officials are unwilling to test mercury levels in fish, even though mercury amounts clearly exceed permitted levels.

Finns take in 60 to 90 percent of their mercury through fish consumption. Long-term exposure to mercury can damage the central nervous system, the large intestine and kidneys. Mercury can also easily harm foetuses.

The EU Commission is currently working on guidelines for maximum limits of harmful and dangerous substances in waterways. The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation disapproves of Finland's stance on the guidelines, which is that mercury can be measured from several sources: water, ground sediment or fish. The association wants mercury levels measured from fish, and not from where samples are most easily taken.

"Finland wants to artificially maintain the country's reputation as a land of clean waters," states the association in a press release published Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Environment believes measuring mercury solely in fish would be problematic, as the natural characteristics of Finland's surface waters have a tendency to increase the accumulation of mercury in the fish population. Moreover, up to 90 percent of mercury found in water stems from outside Finland?s borders. The Ministry believes mercury testing in water and sediment does not lower the quality of nature conservation.

The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation says the purpose of scientific testing and classification is to describe the true state of the environment, regardless of whether the pollutants are transported to Finland from elsewhere.

New obstacles emerge to Baltic Sea protection
Poland takes negative attitude toward agricultural emissions

Drafting a new programme for the protection of the Baltic Sea faces fresh difficulties.
The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM), comprising the member states of the European Union and countries which border the Baltic Sea, decided in the spring a year ago to draw up a new protection programme.
The scheduled date for signing the programme is November 15th, but the countries are far from unanimous on the measures needed to protect the enclosed and ecologically sensitive body of water. Attempts to reduce emissions from agricultural chemicals are meeting with resistance, especially from Poland.
The aim is to draw up a plan of action that would be as concrete as possible. The goals would be a reduction in the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, developing marine environment security, securing the diversity of nature, and the control of hazardous substances.
Finland and Latvia are working together to draft plans to reduce eutrophication, for which agriculture is the greatest single cause.
Agriculture produces the greatest emissions in Finnish and Swedish sea areas. Finland has set ambitious goals for itself in the reduction of nutrient emissions, but the goals are far from being realised.

New challenges are coming from Poland and the Baltic Countries. Polish agriculture is already a major polluter of the Baltic Sea, while Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are making efforts at greater agricultural efficiency. After a transitional period, the countries are set to get significant support from the European Union for the purpose.
The use of artificial fertiliser in the Baltic Sea area is expected to increase by between 20 and 35 per cent over the next ten years.
No progress has been made in preparations by civil servants for the setting of goals. The negotiations are said to be in a "sensitive situation". According to civil servant sources, Poland does not want to come out as an opponent of protection of the Baltic, but "their priorities now are different".

Cleaning residential waste water is another key factor in saving the sea. Poland, Russia, and the Baltic Countries lag far behind Western standards in sewage treatment. More efficient sewage treatment would eliminate as much as a third of the annual phosphorous emissions into the sea.
When it joined the EU, Poland was granted long transitional periods for the improvement of its sewage treatment. Poland has not adhered to all of the timetables that were set for it. In drafting the programme of action, there has been discussion of shortening the transitional periods, but Poland has been unwilling to agree to such a move. In HELCOM, decisions are made by consensus, and are not binding. However, the agreements that are reached do have considerable political weight.
The first Convention for the Protection of the Baltic Sea was drawn up in 1974. It was renewed in 1992 when the Baltic Countries became independent.
Finland continues to place a high priority on cooperation among the Baltic Sea states.

Shortcomings found in recycling system for old cars
Hazardous material often not removed before scrapping

The recycling system for disused vehicles is not working properly in Finland. Many of the cars that are scrapped have not had hazardous materials properly dealt with before being recycled.
The normal handling involves removal of the car battery, as well as oil and fuel, after which the hazardous waste can be properly dealt with at facilities set up for the purpose.
The problem is that the preliminary processing system does not work. Of the approximately 100,000 vehicles that are scrapped each year, 70 per cent are left withouthaving their liquids drained.

About 70,000 scrapped cars each year fail to pass through officially approved handling stations for the removal of oil and petrol. This means that officials cannot ascertain that the removal of the hazardous materials is dealt with in a proper manner.
As a result, about one million litres of fuel and oil are unaccounted for. This amounts to 30 tank lorries worth of hazardous waste, which is probably dumped in the environment.
Pekka Puputti, CEO of the Vehicle Recycling Centre, concedes that there is a problem.
"Finland has a comprehensive system, but most of the scrap cars are recycled through shady figures. We know for sure that these cars are dried out somewhere in sand pits", Puputti says.

The problem stems from people seeking to make fast money in the junk business. With higher prices for raw materials, there is a good deal of money to be made in recycling cars.
Disused vehicles used to be seen as primarily a nuisance, and were typically left in forests or hidden behind farm buildings. Nowadays, car junk brings in so much money that a whole sector of shady business has cropped up behind it.
Scrap merchants often search for raw material by placing notices grocery store bulletin boards, with contact information and prices offered for disused cars.

The price offered by the merchants can be between 10 and 20 euros.
Such offers are competitive. Processing centres take the scrapped cars off the owners’ hands for free.
Scrap merchants can get up to around EUR 100 when they sell the remains of cars to commercial scrap yards. The shady operators rarely bother dealing properly with hazardous waste.