Governments need to accelerate the effort to deliver an international agreement on the poisonous heavy metal mercury Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.

Experts are becoming increasingly concerned that increased burning of coal-naturally contaminated with mercury-is leading to releases to the air in some parts of the world from where it can spread around the globe.

The soaring gold price may also be increasing mercury pollution locally and world-wide. The poisonous heavy metal is used to extract gold from ore in many artisanal mining operations which involve millions of workers and their families.

Mr Steiner, also a UN Under-Secretary General, said scientists have been warning about the dangers to human health, wildlife and the wider environment for well over a century.

"And it is true that many countries have, in recent decades, taken steps to reduce mercury uses and releases and to protect their citizens from exposure to this toxic heavy metal," he added.

"However the fact remains that a comprehensive and decisive response to the global challenge of mercury is not in place and this needs to be urgently addressed,"said Mr Steiner.

Mercury is linked with a wide range of health effects including irreversible damage to the human nervous system including the brain and scientists have concluded there is no safe limit when it comes to mercury exposure.

Every person alive today-some 6.5 billion people- is thought to have at least trace levels of the heavy metal in their tissues.

Today governments and experts are meeting in Bangkok under the auspices of the UNEP's Chemicals Branch to discuss how best to reduce environmental sources of mercury with a range of options on the table from voluntary measures and initiatives up to legally binding treaties.

Their report will be presented to environment ministers meeting in February in Monaco attending UNEP's Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum.

UNEP is urging governments, working with industry and civil society, to begin setting "clear and ambitious targets" to get global mercury levels down and to set the stage for mercury-free products and processes world-wide.