Stockholm Convention POPs Review Committee assesses hazards of two industrial chemicals nominated for elimination and agrees to prepare guidance on alternatives to pesticide endosulfan.

Geneva (Switzerland), 14 October 2011 – The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee, a scientific body to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), took action this week to help eliminate POPs from the global marketplace and protect human health and the environment.  The Committee adopted more than a dozen separate decisions, including one recommending that the chemical hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) be listed under the Convention.

HBCD is a flame retardant used mainly in polystyrene. It is also used in textile coatings and in high impact polystyrene for electrical and electronic equipment. HBCD was proposed by Norway for listing under the Convention as a chemical slated for elimination from the global marketplace.

 “With this week’s decisions, the POPs Review Committee has again cleared the high bar set by Governments for rigorous  scientific review of chemicals proposed for action and advanced the global agenda of eliminating the world’s most dangerous toxic chemicals,” said Jim Willis, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. 

Meeting for the seventh time, the committee of 31 scientific experts initiated risk profiles of two industrial chemicals newly proposed for elimination under the global chemicals treaty. The committee found evidence that chlorinated naphthalenes and hexachlorobutadiene are persistent organic pollutants, which bio-accumulate in organisms (i.e. increases in concentration up the food chain), are transported over long distances from their sources, and are toxic to the environment and human health.

Chlorinated naphthalenes (CNs) were used for decades for wood preservation, as additive to paints and engine oils, and for cable insulation and in capacitors. Until the 1970s, CNs were high volume chemicals.  Hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD) was a widely used fumigant used to control pests and as an industrial solvent. HCBD also occurs as a by-product during production of other chlorinated solvents.

The Committee agreed to continue its assessment of a third chemical, pentachlorophenol (PCP), which is an organochlorine compound used as a pesticide and a disinfectant.

All three chemicals were proposed by the European Union for consideration for listing under the Convention.

The Committee also agreed to prepare guidance on alternatives to the pesticide endosulfan, expanding its work into a new area recently mandated by the Parties to the Convention. Endosulfan, which is commonly used to control agricultural pests, was added to the Convention’s list of 22 POPs at the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties in April 2011.

In addition, the Committee agreed to evaluate the POPs characteristics of the chemical alternatives to DDT. DDT is widely used in tropical and sub-tropical countries to control mosquitoes which serve as a vector for the deadly malaria parasites.

The Committee examined implications of the 2011 study, Climate Change and POPs: Predicting the Impacts and agreed to develop guidance on evaluating how global warming processes affect the fate, transport and toxicity of POPs.

The seventh meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee was held from 10 - 14 October 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Note to Editors

The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) is composed of 31 members appointed by the Conference of the Parties – who are all highly placed scientists representing their regions around the globe. The meetings of the Committee are also open to observers from the NGO community, industry, research organizations and governments. Its mandate is to review proposals to add new chemicals to the Stockholm Convention.

POPs are substances that are persistent and toxic and can affect generations of humans. Exposure to POPs is known to effect health and can be the source of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders and cancer. Some POPs are also considered to be endocrine disrupters and by altering the hormonal system, can also damage human reproductive and immune systems.

Currently, there are twenty-two chemicals listed in the Convention, including DDT, lindane, PCBs and dioxins and furans and some brominated flame retardants. The objective of the Convention is to restrict and eliminate these chemicals from production and use in order to protect human health and the environment. The Convention has 176 Parties as of 14 October 2011.

Since the beginning of its operations, the POPRC has recommended ten chemicals for listing and all ten were accepted by the Conference of the Parties of the Convention. Amendments incorporating the first nine of these chemicals into the annexes of the Convention entered into force on 26 August 2010. The tenth amendment, which will add endosulfan to Annex A, is pending entry into force in accordance with the procedure provided in Article 22 of the Convention.

The study, Climate Change and POPs: Predicting the Impacts, which was released at the 26th session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, in Nairobi, in February 2011, highlighted the ways global warming increases the volubility and long-range mobility of some POPs, with potentially harmful impacts on vulnerable populations.

For More Information Please Contact:

Kei Ohno, Programme Officer, Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention, Geneva, +41 (22) 917 8201, e-mail: kohno@pops.int

Michael Stanley-Jones, Public Information Officer, Joint Services of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, UNEP Geneva, + 41 (22) 917 8668; (m) + 41 79 730 4495, e-mail: msjones@pic.int or SafePlanet@unep.org

Further information is available at http://www.pops.int or by emailing ssc@pops.int.

Register to the Briefing on the outcomes of the seventh meeting of POPRC webinar

Geneva (Switzerland), 7 October 2011 – The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee, a scientific body to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, will meet next week to review three new chemicals proposed for listing under the global chemicals treaty. The Committee will have before it new proposals for listing chlorinated naphthalenes, hexachlorobutadiene, and pentachlorophenol, its salts and esters in Annexes A, B and/or C to the Stockholm Convention.  

Chlorinated naphthalenes (CNs) were used for decades for wood preservation, as additive to paints and engine oils, and for cable insulation and in capacitors. Until the 1970s CNs were high volume chemicals. Hexachlorobutadiene was a widely used fumigant used to control pests. Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is an organochlorine compound used as a pesticide and a disinfectant. All three chemicals were proposed by the European Union for consideration for listing under the Convention.

The committee will also evaluate possible control measures for the chemical hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), the last step on the road to considering whether to phase the chemical off the global marketplace.  HBCD is a flame retardant used mainly in polystyrene. It is also used in textile coatings and in high impact polystyrene for electrical and electronic equipment.  HBCD was proposed by Norway for listing under the Convention.

The committee will consider information requirements for the risk profile of short-chained chlorinated paraffins (SCCP). SCCP are a group of industrial chemicals used in metalworking, and the formulation and manufacturing of products such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics and metalworking fluids. They are of concern because they are persistent, have been found in remote areas such as the Arctic, and could accumulate to levels that are toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms.

The seventh meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC7) will be held from 10 to 14 October 2011 at the Conference Centre Varembé in Geneva (Website: www.cicg.ch; Address: 9-11 Rue de Varembé, Geneva).

A provisional agenda of the meeting is set out in document UNEP/POPS/POPRC.7/1.

Note to Editors

The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) is composed of 31 members appointed by the Conference of the Parties– who are all highly placed scientists representing their regions around the globe. The meetings of the committee are also open to observers from the NGO community, industry, research organizations and governments. Its mandate is to review proposals to add new chemicals to the Stockholm Convention.

A chemical can be listed in the Stockholm Convention as a persistent organic pollutant when it shows that it persists in the environment, bioaccumulates in organisms (increases in concentration up the food chain), travels through the environment over long distances from the region of its release to other regions of the globe, and is toxic to the environment and human health.

Currently, there are twenty-two chemicals listed in the convention including DDT, lindane, PCBs and dioxins and furans and some brominated flame retardants. The objective of the convention, which has 175 Parties as of 19 September 2011, is to restrict and eliminate these chemicals from production and use in order to protect human health and the environment.

Since the beginning of its operations, the POPRC has recommended ten chemicals for listing and all ten were accepted by the Conference of the Parties of the Convention. Amendments incorporating the first nine of these chemicals into the annexes of the Convention entered into force on 26 August 2010. The tenth amendment, which will add endosulfan to Annex A, is pending entry into force in accordance with the procedure provided in Article 22 of the Convention.

Further information is available at www.pops.int and http://chm.pops.int/tabid/221/Default.aspx or by emailing ssc@pops.int.

Contact

Kei Ohno, Programme Officer, Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention, Geneva, +41 (22) 917 8201, e-mail: kohno@pops.int

Michael Stanley-Jones, Press Focal Point/Public Information Officer, Joint Services of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, UNEP Geneva, + 41-22-917-8668; (m) + 41-79-730-4495, e-mail: msjones@pic.int or SafePlanet@unep.org

 Download

Please click here to download this press advisory.

The final report of the fifth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention is now available. The Executive Secretary has sent a letter to all Official Contact Points and National Focal Points to the Convention on 19 September 2011 on requests for information directed to Parties and observers by the Conference of the Parties.

POPsSocial (http://networking.pops.int)

 Informal networks have long been known as "the grease" that enables action within large organizations. Knowing who to contact, what to ask, and how to ask it can often break through the bureaucratic logjams, speeding delivery of services.

The slow alternative of working a decision up the chain of command step-by-step can discourage innovation, causing the organization to lose out on opportunities to perform more efficiently and creatively.

With the advent of the Internet, the speed and ease of communication have grown dramatically. Online social networking has further increased the power of informal networks. The role of online networking has grown, as modern organizations race to keep up with technological change and exploit the benefits offered by new forms of social communication.

This development comes at a certain cost, however. Where informal networks become too strong, an organization risks loss of accountability and transparency in its decision-making. Getting things done can become an "Insiders´ game". Too much of "a good thing" may erode traditional hierarchies of decision-making and action.

How can accountability and creativity be retained in the age of instant, non-stop informal electronic communication?

Within the United Nations, a premium is placed on action taken under explicitly assigned authority. Yet the demands for improved performance are also of paramount concern.

How to get the best of both the traditional, hierarchical and the flattened, social electronic forms of communication?

Enter POPsSocial

 Increase in PEN membership in 2011 through 1 April 2011

 POPsSocial, the new social networking platform of the Stockholm clearing-house mechanism , has been designed to serve both the need for accountability and for innovation.

POPsSocial enables users to register within specific online groups (social networks) on themes mandated by the Parties to the conventions. Some of these networks are formal ("by invitation only"), such as the POPs Review Committee or the PCB Elimination Network Advisory Committee.

Others groups are relatively open and participation is voluntary. The Webinars groups to which participants register their interest in a specific topic fall into this voluntary category. POPsSocial facilitates well-structured, open debate on issues related to the convention.

Participants in POPsSocial are encouraged to share information on Events, News, Blogs, Documents and Forums with their own groups or with the POPsSocial membership as a whole. They can become a "Friend" of any member, participate in discussion forums, share draft documents or proposals to group members, and review the contributions of others.

To date, POPsSocial has established over 30 groups comprised of more than 1,200 members in total during its 4-month period of beta testing. The most active group so far is the PCBs Elimination Network (PEN) which has attracted more than 120 members to one or more of its 4 sub-groups.

 

A framework of transparency and accountability

Under a mandate from COP4 to create in cooperation with the secretariats of the Basel and Rotterdam conventions a common clearing-house mechanism for the chemicals and waste cluster conventions, the Secretariats’ IT team has designed the social networking software used by POPsSocial to enable social networks to flourish within a framework of transparency and accountability.

Balancing privacy with transparency, POPsSocial hopes to increase the speed of communications and uptake of new ideas and solutions to the POPs chemicals and waste problems , without losing the credibility and authority of working within the established Intergovernmental environment. By increasing the accessibility of information and creating new points of entry for knowledge to enter the decision-making process, POPsSocial promotes the efficient uptake of the chemicals and waste solutions.

POPsSocial is part of a new trend in promoting the multi-stakeholder approach to sound chemicals management, seen also in the UNECE Aarhus Convention and its Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management. Common to these "soft" and "hard law" instruments are the application of interactive communication tools enabling the mobilization of expertise to address problems on the ground.

POPsSocial was formally launched at the 5th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention. A new era of responsible communication within the UN system has just begun.

Geneva, Switzerland, 3 May 2011 - Representatives from 127 Governments meeting in Geneva last week agreed to add endosulfan to the United Nations’ list of persistent organic pollutants to be eliminated worldwide. The action puts the widely-used pesticide on course for elimination from the global market by 2012.

The decision was among more than 30 measures taken by Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) to boost global action against POPs.

The Parties agreed to list endosulfan in Annex A to the Convention, with specific exemptions. When the amendment to the Annex A enters into force in one year, endosulfan will become the 22nd POP to be listed under the Convention.

A Party may extend the phase out period of the pesticide by five years but only for a small number of uses.

"The conference recognized that financial and technical support is required to facilitate the replacement of the use of endosulfan in developing countries and countries with economies in transition," said UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

"In establishing a consultative process on finance for the chemicals and waste conventions, UNEP has responded to the need of those countries by seeking to make the sound management of hazardous chemicals a development priority of the green economy in which all countries can fully and fairly participate," he added.

"New POPs present new challenges, as we are usually dealing with chemicals that are still widely used commercially," said Jim Willis, the newly appointed Executive Secretary of the Basel, Stockholm, and UNEP-part of the Rotterdam Convention Secretariats. "Parties have demonstrated that they can find creative solutions to speed the elimination of POPs and protect environment and human health from these dangerous chemicals."

The conference evaluated the continued need for DDT for disease vector control to combat mosquitoes carrying the deadly malaria parasite. On the basis of available scientific, technical, environmental and economic information, it saw a continued need to use DDT while effective alternatives were being sought and implemented by an increasing number of countries.

"Despite all efforts, malaria remains one of the world’s tragedies with almost a million fatalities every year. All means are needed to combat this vector," said Victoria Mupwaya, director of the Environmental Council of Zambia.

The first assembly of the Global Alliance for alternatives to DDT, held on the 26 April 2011, concurred with the WHO findings. Although there is no deadline for the elimination of DDT, the goal of the Alliance is to reduce reliance on DDT for disease vector control by strengthening countries capacities to deploy safer alternatives.

The conference requested UNEP to take over administration of the Global Alliance, in collaboration with the World Health Organization. UNEP was also requested to take over the PCB Elimination Network.

Monique Barbut, chief executive officer of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), speaking at the "Finance Forum for Sustainable Solutions" on the opening day of the conference, announced the GEF would provide USD 250,000 in support to countries to update their national implementation plans in response to the adoption of new POPs to the Convention. In total, the GEF had in recent years funded more than USD 1 billion to address implementation of hazardous chemicals and waste cluster agreements.

Seven new Stockholm Convention regional centres were endorsed by the conference: in Algeria, Kenya, India, Iran, Senegal, South Africa and the Russian Federation. The Russian region centre is conditional on the Russian Federation’s ratification of the Convention.

Karel Blaha (Czech Republic) was elected president of the conference on the opening day. Osvaldo Alvarez (Chile) was elected to serve as president of the 6th meeting of the conference, to be held in May 2013.

Over 700 participants took part in the conference, which was held from 25 to 29 May 2011. Under the theme, Stockholm at 10: Chemical Challenges, Sustainable Solutions, the conference marked the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention in 2001.

Contacts

Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson, tel: +254 20 7623084 or email: nick.nuttall@unep.org

David Ogden, Coordinator, Stockholm Convention secretariat, tel: +41 22 917 8161 or email: dogden@pops.int

Michael Stanley-Jones, Public Information Officer, mobile/text message: +41 (0)79 730 4495 or email: msjones@pops.int

To complement its face-to-face training activities, the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention is hosting a series of webinars that focus on key issues relevant to the implementation of the Convention.

Through tailored information and knowledge exchange, the POPs Webinars allow for an interactive dialogue between the Secretariat and the government officials involved in the implementation and enforcement of the Convention. By doing so, the Secretariat aims at supporting Parties in addressing some of the challenges they may face when implementing the Convention. The POPs Webinars series offers an opportunity to reach out to a wider network of stakeholders engaged in Convention matters and to the general public.