The Minamata Convention on Mercury is an international treaty for the protection of human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. This Convention was the result of three years of meetings and negotiations, at the end of which the text of the Convention was approved and signed by delegates from nearly 140 countries in Geneva on 19 January 2013 and was signed later that year at a diplomatic conference in Kumamoto, in Japan. The convention is named after the Japanese city of Minamata. This designation is symbolic, as the city suffered a devastating incident of mercury poisoning. It is manufactured during the manufacture or processing of chlorine, gold, jewelry, paints, some plastics, preservatives and pharmaceuticals. .