The Mercury Salon is Open

At IPEN's booth at the Minamata Convention's 1st Conference of the Parties, IPEN is taking hair samples from all those interested in testing for mercury levels. The samples will be sent to Biodiversity Research Institute's laboratories for mercury analysis and results will be reported on in the coming months. Some delegates who previously gave hair samples at the Convention's 1st Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meeting in Sweden in 2010 are interested in getting their hair tested again to see if their levels have changed.

On the first day of the conference, IPEN also tested some skin creams for mercury levels, including creams purchased in Bangladesh, Benin and India. Read more about IPEN's activities at the COP1 here.