Governments Take Decisive
Action to Rid World of POPS; Four New Chemicals Proposed for Phase-Out Under
Stockholm Convention
May 09, 2005 — By UN Environment Programme
PUNTA DEL ESTE, Uruguay — Several decades after scientists first confirmed
that certain toxic chemicals travel around the world after their release into
the environment, eventually drifting northward to poison the traditional foods
of Arctic peoples, an intergovernmental conference here has ensured that global
efforts to reduce and eliminate a list of highly hazardous chemicals will now
move forward energetically.
"This week's conference on the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs) has provided an inspiring example of how countries can work
together through the United Nations to find global solutions to global
problems", said Executive Director Klaus Toepfer of the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) ), under whose auspices the Convention was adopted
in 2001.
"Committed advocates from the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN)
and other non-governmental groups have played a central role in focusing the
attention of Governments and the general public on the need to tackle POPs.
Governments must do their part too by quickly reducing the risks to the
environment and human health from long-lasting toxic chemicals and pesticides,
not only for the Inuit but for every person on Earth", he said.
The Conference established a POPs Review Committee that will be responsible for
evaluating additional chemicals that could be added to the treaty's initial list
of 12 POPs. The Committee will hold its first meeting in Geneva later this year.
Its recommendations will be forwarded to future annual meetings of the
Conference of the Parties for decisions on whether and how new POPs should be
added to the Convention.
The Committee will start its work with four candidates that have been proposed
before or during this week's Conference. Norway has nominated the flame
retardant pentabromodiphenyl ether. Mexico has nominated a group of chemicals
known as hexachlorocyclohexanes, which include the pesticide lindane. The
European Union proposes listing the pesticide chlordecone and the flame
retardant hexabromobiphenyl.
One of the chemicals already targeted by the Convention is DDT. The meeting
recognized, however, that some 25 countries will need to continue spraying
controlled amounts of DDT on the inside walls of houses to combat
malaria-carrying mosquitoes. The progress being made on developing safe,
affordable and locally effective alternatives to DDT will be reviewed again in
three years. Delegates agreed on the rules and documentation for collecting the
information needed for conducting such reviews.
"The environmental community is collaborating with the World Health
Organization to ensure that the phase-out of the remaining uses of DDT does not
undermine the battle against malaria and the well-being of people living in
malarial zones", said Mr. Toepfer.
Noting the strong synergies that exist between the POPs treaty and the Basel
Convention on Transboundary Movements of Hazardous and Other Wastes, the meeting
lent its support to the guidelines for managing POPs wastes that the Basel
Convention adopted last year and encouraged countries to apply them.
The meeting further agreed on how to evaluate the Convention's progress in
reducing the levels of POPs in the environment. It established a system for
requesting and registering temporary exemptions to the phase-out of certain
chemicals. The meeting welcomed and accepted the invitation of Switzerland to
locate the Convention's secretariat in Geneva.
This week's POPs Conference was immediately preceded here by the Latin America
regional meeting on the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals
Management. SAICM represents a comprehensive effort to improve the way the world
deals with chemicals. Following a final preparatory meeting in Vienna from 19 to
24 September, SAICM is expected to be finalized next February in Dubai during
the 9th Special Session of UNEP's Governing Council/Global Ministerial
Environment Forum.
The 12 initial POPs covered by the Stockholm Convention include nine pesticides
(aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex
and toxaphene); two industrial chemicals (PCBs as well as hexachlorobenzene,
also used as a pesticide); and unintentional by-products, most importantly
dioxins and furans.
These chemicals can kill people, damage the nervous and immune systems, cause
cancer and reproductive disorders and interfere with normal infant and child
development. While the risk level varies from POP to POP, they all share four
properties: they are highly toxic; they are stable and persistent, lasting for
years or decades before degrading into less dangerous forms; they evaporate and
travel long distances through the air and through water; and they accumulate in
the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife.
Fortunately, there are alternatives to POPs. The problem has been that high
costs, a lack of public awareness, and the absence of appropriate infrastructure
and technology have often prevented their adoption. Solutions must be tailored
to the specific properties and uses of each chemical and to each country's
climatic and socio-economic conditions.
Information on the Stockholm Convention can be found at www.pops.int.
For more information, please contact:
UNEP Conference Press Officer Michael Williams at +41-79-409-1528 or michael.williams@unep.ch