Global treaty to phase out "dirty dozen" pollutants.

A significant international agreement seeking to phase out the use of certain long-lasting chemicals entered into force in May 2004. Stipulations in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants will now apply to the 50 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Brazil, and Tanzania, that have ratified it. The United States has thus far refused to ratify the convention, and will not be required to abide by its rules.

The convention will regulate the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), highly stable compounds that include the pesticide DDT and industrial by-products, such as dioxin. This class of chemicals is of special concern to the international community because the water-insoluble chemicals can spread long distances, over years or even decades, before they decompose. Twelve chemicals, known as the "dirty dozen," have been selected for priority action, which will include aggressive development of less harmful alternatives.

Global weather patterns have led to the concentration of these chemicals in certain regions, most notably the Canadian Arctic. When animals high in the food chain, such as predatory birds and mammals, consume prey that have been exposed to POPs, the predators accumulate dangerously high levels of the chemicals in their tissues. Members of the Inuit tribe, who live in the Arctic and depend on now contaminated local animals for subsistence, have accumulated such high levels of POPs that the chemicals can now be detected at dangerous levels in their breast milk.

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Workers who apply pesticides, and residents living near POPs production sites, are also at risk for contamination--especially in developing countries, where accidental exposure to the chemicals is more common. "Of all the pollutants released into the environment every year by human activity, POPs are the most dangerous," said Klaus Topfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). A recent study by the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) found that pesticide residues appeared in 100 percent of the more than 9,000 people recently examined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while a separate report by the Ontario College of Family Physicians documented linkages between pesticide exposure and health problems, such as birth defects and cancer.

Industry groups, such as the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), have joined environmental organizations, including Greenpeace, in endorsing the Stockholm Convention. However, even supporters of the convention caution that it is only a first step towards POPs management, and that more countries need to ratify the international agreement. "The Stockholm Convention goes a long way towards establishing a balanced regulatory approach ... but requires effective national implementation to succeed," cautioned American Chemistry Council President Greg Lebedev.

THE DIRTY DOZEN:

aldrin                mirex
chlordane             toxaphene
DDT                   polychlorinated
dieldrin                biphenols (PCBs)
endrin                hexachlorobenzene
heptachlor            dioxins
                      furans