People hold up torches in front of the Royal Palace during a ceremony in Phnom Penh July 10, 2014. A three-day royal procession to take the remains of late Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk from the cremation site to the Royal Palace began on Thursday.
People hold up torches in front of the Royal Palace during a ceremony in Phnom Penh July 10, 2014. A three-day royal procession to take the remains of late Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk from the cremation site to the Royal Palace began on Thursday. Reuters

Authorities of the European Union, a political-economic union in the Europe of 28 states, will be debating about calls for curbing the emissions of mercury during human cremations. Environmental campaigners have said that the emissions were contributing to pollution.

Mercury is said to be associated with problems related to mental development. The mercury, after cremation, enters the air and then when it falls in the rain, it is consumed by fish. When a pregnant woman eats the fish, it causes harm to the baby. In the states belonging to the EU, around 200,000 babies annually are born with levels of mercury that is said to be harmful to their development.

According to ABC News, there was a rise in emissions of the metals that were toxic because of fillings in the teeth. Campaigners have said that this rise in emissions has coincided with increased cremation and since there is a shortage of land, burial has also become expensive. Researchers of the United States have compiled data which shows that with every cremation an average of about 2 to 4 grams of mercury was released.

The European Environment Bureau, a federation of environmental organisations based in the EU's member states, said that the new standards on destroying waste should include crematoria. One of the suggestions was that the teeth should be removed from the corpses before the cremation but the campaigners are aware that this option might bring about ethical issues. A senior official of the EEB policy, Christian Schaible, said that what is important was to deal with the protection of the living environment from pollutants that were extremely hazardous.

In Germany, there has been a limit put on the emissions of mercury. In Sweden and Denmark, there is a ban of mercury in dental fillings. The European Union has also brought about regulation of the coal power plants which are considered to be the biggest source of pollution that involves mercury.

Data was collected from the Cremation Society of Great Britain, an advocate of cremation in the UK, which showed that in 2012, the highest number of cremations took place in Switzerland at 85 percent, which is a non-EU member. It was followed with Denmark and Britain with 77 percent and 73 percent respectively.

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