Fresh air from Stockholm : 12 toxics banned

Global  Convention to eliminate POPs (persistent organic pollutants)

The Convention to  eliminate 12 POPs has been signed by more than 90 countries in Stockholm (Sweden) on May 23,  2001.
The Convention will be fully implemented after ratification by 50 countries.

Using a revolutionary approach,   governments are requested, for the first time,  to eliminate the production itself ( not emissions, consumption or transportation) of toxic substances .

The 12 POPs  banned are : pesticides (Aldrin, Chlordane, DDT, Heptachlor, Hexachlorobenzene, Dieldrin, Mirex, Toxaphene), industrial products (PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls) and byproducts, i.e.   unintentionally  formed chemicals (polichlorinated dioxins and furans ).

POPs are very toxics, and, even at very low concentration, may damage human and animal life. 

 Exposure  to POPs is associated  with problems like cancer, reproductive abnormality and  neurological desorders in superior animals (whales, seals, eagles, polar bears and many other species, including humans). POPs  are generally soluble in fat : through a "bio-accumulation" process they concentrate on fatty tissues and can be transmitted by mothers to foetus or to babies with milk.  They travel very long distances, live for decades and may be found in air or  food. 

POPs are able to circulate globally due to the  "grasshopper effect" : POPs released in one part of the world can, through repeated evaporation and condensation processes, be transported in regions very far from the origin : e.g. can concentrate in cold regions, like Arctic. 

Polychlorinated dioxins, furans and other unintentionally formed products.

Dioxins and furans, being undesired products, are very difficult to control; governments accept to reduce their emissions,  aiming  to continuously minimize and, whenever possible, eliminate them totaly.

Among potential sources of dioxins or other POPs, are mentioned in the Convention text the waste incinerating plants  ( municipal and sanitary waste, too) and the pulp bleaching using chlorine or chlorinated substances.

PCBs are liquids widely used  in old electrical equipments (specially transformers)  : governments must put labels when PCBs are present, and  may maintain existing equipment in a way that prevents leakings  until 2025  to arrange for PCB-free replacements. 
PCBs production is, anyway, banned. 

Governments must also study how to destroy the huge stocks of PCBs now existing.

                               DDT

Immediate ban is foreseen for most of 12 chemicals. Anyway, production and usage of DDT  may still be allowed, in selected countries, for mosquitoes control in order to fight malaria, until governments are able to replace DDT with chemical and non chemical alternatives that are cost-effective  and environmentally friendly.
Anyway  the goal of reducing DDT usage, and possibly eliminating it, has been confirmed. 

                   Related web sites

UNEP site on POPs, with the Convention text

Greenpeace International  welcomed  the birth of the Convention

WWF international  calls on  governments to quickly ratify the Convention.