mick silver
7th April 2010, 12:24 PM
http://www.panna.org/resources/treaties ... A chemical soup of long-lasting substances like DDT, PCBs and PBDEs has contaminated our environment and our bodies for decades. Most of the global community recognized years ago that these persistent chemicals pose a threat to current and future generations around the world. That's why 169 countries have adopted the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which targets this entire class of chemicals for worldwide phaseout.
The U.S. has not yet ratified the Stockholm Convention. Giving EPA the authority to tackle Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs) here are home will bring us one step closer to joining this global effort, and will strengthen our hand in international negotiations to protect current and future generations from these dangerous chemicals.
Persistent organic pollutants - or POPs - are PBT chemicals that can be transported across the globe. These dangerous chemicals einclude pesticides, industrial chemicals and chemical byproducts. POPs share basic characteristics that make them an urgent global problem:
•POPs break down slowly and persist in the environment for long periods of time.
•POPs concentrate in the food chain, building up in all living creatures, including humans.
•POPs are linked with serious health effects, including reproductive and developmental illnesses, immune suppression, nervous system disorders, cancers and hormone disruption.
•POPs travel long distances in global air and water currents, and concentrate in the polar regions.
PAN has worked with partner groups around the world to successfully press for a strong international treaty, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs Treaty), which - for the first time ever - targets an entire class of chemicals for global elimination. The POPs Treaty sets mandatory timetables for phaseout of listed chemicals, provides technical and financial assistance to help countries eliminate POPs, and includes a process for adding new chemicals to the target list.
Twelve POPs chemicals were included on the initial phaseout list under the treaty: the pesticides endrin, mirex, toxaphene, chlordane, heptachlor, aldrin, dieldrin and DDT; the industrial chemicals hexachlorobenzene (also used as a pesticide) and PCBs; and the industrial byproducts dioxins and furans. In May 2009, nine new chemicals were added to the treaty's list for global elimination, including the organochlorine pesticide lindane. In October 2009, the POPs Treaty's scientific committee agreed to consider the pesticide endosulfan for possible addition to the list.
PAN is now focusing on pressing the U.S. government to ratify the treaty in a way that allows the U.S. to play a positive leadership role in implementation of the treaty both at home and worldwide.
The U.S. has not yet ratified the Stockholm Convention. Giving EPA the authority to tackle Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs) here are home will bring us one step closer to joining this global effort, and will strengthen our hand in international negotiations to protect current and future generations from these dangerous chemicals.
Persistent organic pollutants - or POPs - are PBT chemicals that can be transported across the globe. These dangerous chemicals einclude pesticides, industrial chemicals and chemical byproducts. POPs share basic characteristics that make them an urgent global problem:
•POPs break down slowly and persist in the environment for long periods of time.
•POPs concentrate in the food chain, building up in all living creatures, including humans.
•POPs are linked with serious health effects, including reproductive and developmental illnesses, immune suppression, nervous system disorders, cancers and hormone disruption.
•POPs travel long distances in global air and water currents, and concentrate in the polar regions.
PAN has worked with partner groups around the world to successfully press for a strong international treaty, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs Treaty), which - for the first time ever - targets an entire class of chemicals for global elimination. The POPs Treaty sets mandatory timetables for phaseout of listed chemicals, provides technical and financial assistance to help countries eliminate POPs, and includes a process for adding new chemicals to the target list.
Twelve POPs chemicals were included on the initial phaseout list under the treaty: the pesticides endrin, mirex, toxaphene, chlordane, heptachlor, aldrin, dieldrin and DDT; the industrial chemicals hexachlorobenzene (also used as a pesticide) and PCBs; and the industrial byproducts dioxins and furans. In May 2009, nine new chemicals were added to the treaty's list for global elimination, including the organochlorine pesticide lindane. In October 2009, the POPs Treaty's scientific committee agreed to consider the pesticide endosulfan for possible addition to the list.
PAN is now focusing on pressing the U.S. government to ratify the treaty in a way that allows the U.S. to play a positive leadership role in implementation of the treaty both at home and worldwide.