UN-led treaty to ban dangerous chemicals

An international treaty banning the world's most dangerous pesticides, industrial chemicals and hazardous by-products of combustion enters into force on Monday, marking the start of a UN-backed effort for a global reduction of pollutants tied to cancer, birth defects and immune system damage.

Over the next several years national investments plus donor pledges of hundreds of millions will channel more than $500 million into the initiative.

The 2001 Stockholm Convention deals with Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). For decades these highly toxic chemicals have killed and sickened people and animals by causing cancer and damaging the nervous, reproductive and immune systems. They have also caused uncounted birth defects, the UN said.

“The Stockholm Convention will save lives and protect the natural environment – particularly in the poorest communities and countries – by banning the production and use of some of the most toxic chemicals known to humankind,” Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Every human in the world carries traces in his or her body the highly stable compounds that can last for years or decades before breaking down. They circulate globally through a process known as the “grasshopper effect”. POPs released in one part of the world can, through a repeated process of evaporation and deposit, be transported through the atmosphere to regions far away from the original source.

There are alternatives to most POPs but 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, as well as to each country's climatic and socio-economic conditions, according to the UN.

(gmcg)