MONTREAL, Canada -- The conservation organization WWF today urged
governments at the start of the treaty negotiations on persistent organic
pollutants (POPs) to be tough in dealing with the growing stock of
dangerous chemicals being released into the environment.
More than 100 governments, UN officials and over 50 NGOs are
participating in the UNEP-sponsored talks (29 June - 3 July) intended to
produce a global, legally binding treaty by the end of 2000. Delegates will
put forward their opening positions on key POPs-related issues.
"At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, governments took a first,
halting step forward on this issue by agreeing, in principle, that actions
were needed to reduce and eliminate POPs," said Clifton Curtis, Director,
WWF-US Global Toxics Program. "Six years later, it's *showtime' here in
Montreal. As the curtain rises, the challenge is to turn promises and high
sounding rhetoric into concrete, binding measures that will eliminate POPs
in a rapid, orderly, and just manner."
Twelve POPs have been targeted by UNEP for early action, including DDT
and 8 other pesticides; two industrial chemicals - PCBs and
hexachlorobenzine; and dioxins and furans, unintended but highly toxic
byproducts of industrial combustion and chlorine-based bleaching. In
addition, negotiators have agreed to develop criteria for adding other
POPs to the action list. WWF has prepared a special report on DDT, for
release at the meeting on June 30th, using that particular POP to
showcase a framework and 'tool kit' for moving away from
pesticide-dependent malaria control.
"Most people assume that notorious chemicals like DDT were banned long
ago but it is not so," said Julia Langer, Director, Wildlife Toxicology
Program, WWF-Canada. "Ultra-nasty, super-long-lived pesticides and
industrial pollutants are still being made, used and discharged around the
globe. Only firm commitments to phase out POPs will diminish the toxic
legacy people and wildlife are exposed to daily."
For WWF, which has joined with a growing cadre of environmental and
public health groups in forming the International POPs Elimination Network
(IPEN), the challenge is for governments to stay focused on achieving an
effective, expeditiously concluded global treaty regime. Three special
working groups are likely to be created to address restricted use and
elimination actions for the prioritized 12 POPs; criteria and procedures for
adding new POPs; and existing and innovative financial sources and
mechanisms to assist developing countries in implementing the proposed
new agreement.
Contact: During the POPS meeting, Someshwar Singh
(+1.514.953.8295), Judi Levita (+1.416.587.2951), or Lee Poston
(+1.514.953.8174).