POPs in the news

30/03/2022 -

Recent European Commission legal win against chemical industry group sets an important precedent, holding the door open for more systematic restrictions of substances hampering circular economy under the new revision of the Ecodesign Directive. More:

Human exposure Risk assessment of flame retardants Regulation of flame retardants

The ban on toxic flame retardant stays, chemical industry dismissed by EU court

Recent European Commission legal win against chemical industry group sets an important precedent, holding the door open for more systematic restrictions of substances hampering circular economy under the new revision of the Ecodesign Directive. More:

Human exposure Risk assessment of flame retardants Regulation of flame retardants
29/03/2022 -

After many heated debates on what constitutes sustainable business, the final pieces of the giant EU Taxonomy Regulation puzzle are now being developed and put into place. But what is the Taxonomy? How does it work? And how on Earth is it connected to hazardous chemicals? More:


Under construction: The chemical aspects of the Taxonomy Regulation – so far

After many heated debates on what constitutes sustainable business, the final pieces of the giant EU Taxonomy Regulation puzzle are now being developed and put into place. But what is the Taxonomy? How does it work? And how on Earth is it connected to hazardous chemicals? More:

24/03/2022 -

Independent testing of more than 100 packaging products from US restaurant and grocery chains identified PFAS chemicals in many of the wrappers, a Consumer Reports investigation has found. More:

Human exposure to PFAS Alternatives: Eliminating PFAS in Food Packaging

Revealed: the dangerous chemicals in your food wrappers

Independent testing of more than 100 packaging products from US restaurant and grocery chains identified PFAS chemicals in many of the wrappers, a Consumer Reports investigation has found. More:

Human exposure to PFAS Alternatives: Eliminating PFAS in Food Packaging
24/03/2022 -

Bayer reached an $80 million settlement with Ohio to resolve environmental damage allegedly caused by polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, made by the company's Monsanto business, the state attorney general said. More:


Bayer reaches $80 mln PCB contamination settlement with Ohio

Bayer reached an $80 million settlement with Ohio to resolve environmental damage allegedly caused by polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, made by the company's Monsanto business, the state attorney general said. More:

22/03/2022 -

Maine faces a crisis from PFAS-contaminated produce, which is causing farms to close and farmers to face the loss of their livelihoods. More:

Sewage sludge and PFAS contamination Sewage sludge regulation Regulation of PFAS Monitoring PFAS: Human Exposure and Health Effects PFAS Toxicity

‘I don’t know how we’ll survive’: the farmers facing ruin in Maine’s ‘forever chemicals’ crisis

Maine faces a crisis from PFAS-contaminated produce, which is causing farms to close and farmers to face the loss of their livelihoods. More:

Sewage sludge and PFAS contamination Sewage sludge regulation Regulation of PFAS Monitoring PFAS: Human Exposure and Health Effects PFAS Toxicity
22/03/2022 -

"Persistent organic pollutants are chemicals that are particularly harmful to the environment and human health," said French environment minister Barbara Pompili, for the EU presidency: "To secure the progress towards an increasingly circular economy, and to ensure the quality of secondary raw materials, it is crucial that waste does not contain persistent organic pollutants." More:

EU Regulation on Persistent Organic Pollutants

EU states agree to reduce persistent organic pollutants in waste

"Persistent organic pollutants are chemicals that are particularly harmful to the environment and human health," said French environment minister Barbara Pompili, for the EU presidency: "To secure the progress towards an increasingly circular economy, and to ensure the quality of secondary raw materials, it is crucial that waste does not contain persistent organic pollutants." More:

EU Regulation on Persistent Organic Pollutants
21/03/2022 -

The Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) is a key piece of European Union legislation on pollution, regulating around 50,000 industrial installations in Europe. It was meant to achieve a high-level of protection for the health of humans and the environment but despite its strong potential, EU Member States and industry have used broad interpretations and exploited loopholes to shirk their responsibilities. More:


Mythbusting the Industrial Emissions Directive

The Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) is a key piece of European Union legislation on pollution, regulating around 50,000 industrial installations in Europe. It was meant to achieve a high-level of protection for the health of humans and the environment but despite its strong potential, EU Member States and industry have used broad interpretations and exploited loopholes to shirk their responsibilities. More:

17/03/2022 -

No person is an island, and neither are hazardous chemicals. We are all being exposed to a virtual “cocktail” of hundreds – if not thousands – of potentially harmful substances every day. The cocktail effect needs to be considered when regulating substances of concern and calculating limit values. More:

Chemical Cocktails and Regulation Chemical Cocktails and Endocrine Disruption

The sober way to tackle the cocktail effect

No person is an island, and neither are hazardous chemicals. We are all being exposed to a virtual “cocktail” of hundreds – if not thousands – of potentially harmful substances every day. The cocktail effect needs to be considered when regulating substances of concern and calculating limit values. More:

Chemical Cocktails and Regulation Chemical Cocktails and Endocrine Disruption
17/03/2022 -

The Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) criteria could be the engine to move the whole economy away from hazardous chemicals and towards a more sustainable future. But it is important that it is just that and not simply a paper exercise – or worse: a tool for greenwashing. More:


The Big Five that can accelerate The Safe and Sustainable by Design criteria

The Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) criteria could be the engine to move the whole economy away from hazardous chemicals and towards a more sustainable future. But it is important that it is just that and not simply a paper exercise – or worse: a tool for greenwashing. More:

16/03/2022 -

According to the European Environmental Agency, we only have thorough information on the properties of 500 chemicals out of the 100,000 chemicals on the market. Meanwhile, industrial chemicals are omnipresent in the food we eat, the water we drink and the products we use daily at home and at work. This consistent exposure to the complex, potentially toxic mix of chemicals is linked to fuelling growing rates of cancer, reproductive disorders, and other modern-age metabolic diseases. More:

Chemical cocktails and health effects Effects on biodiversity EU Regulation

Walking the EU’s talk on a toxic-free environment – PART 1

According to the European Environmental Agency, we only have thorough information on the properties of 500 chemicals out of the 100,000 chemicals on the market. Meanwhile, industrial chemicals are omnipresent in the food we eat, the water we drink and the products we use daily at home and at work. This consistent exposure to the complex, potentially toxic mix of chemicals is linked to fuelling growing rates of cancer, reproductive disorders, and other modern-age metabolic diseases. More:

Chemical cocktails and health effects Effects on biodiversity EU Regulation
10/03/2022 -

Higher levels of exposure to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” may increase the likelihood of Covid-19 infection, more serious symptoms and death, a group of recent studies have found. Public health advocates and researchers have feared since the coronavirus pandemic’s onset that PFAS, which are known to be immunotoxic, could hinder the body’s ability to fight Covid-19. More:

PFAS and Covid-19 Water contamination Human exposure to PFAS

Higher levels of PFAS exposure may increase chance of Covid, studies say

Higher levels of exposure to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” may increase the likelihood of Covid-19 infection, more serious symptoms and death, a group of recent studies have found. Public health advocates and researchers have feared since the coronavirus pandemic’s onset that PFAS, which are known to be immunotoxic, could hinder the body’s ability to fight Covid-19. More:

PFAS and Covid-19 Water contamination Human exposure to PFAS
10/03/2022 -

A UN expert has warned of the creation of pollution “sacrifice zones” across the world, where tens of millions of people are suffering strokes, cancers, respiratory problems and heart disease as a result of toxic contamination of the environment. More:

Human Rights and Environment

Millions suffering in deadly pollution ‘sacrifice zones’, warns UN expert

A UN expert has warned of the creation of pollution “sacrifice zones” across the world, where tens of millions of people are suffering strokes, cancers, respiratory problems and heart disease as a result of toxic contamination of the environment. More:

Human Rights and Environment
10/03/2022 -

Agricultural pesticides were among the toxic pollutants found in the study, including the herbicide glyphosate and endocrine disruptors. Both these substances damage the environment, animals and plants, and have adverse effects on human health, with links to cancers and developmental disorders. More:

Regulation Water contamination

Toxic Rivers and the EU's Pesticide Problem

Agricultural pesticides were among the toxic pollutants found in the study, including the herbicide glyphosate and endocrine disruptors. Both these substances damage the environment, animals and plants, and have adverse effects on human health, with links to cancers and developmental disorders. More:

Regulation Water contamination
09/03/2022 -

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. wildlife officials reversed their previous finding that a widely used and highly toxic pesticide could jeopardize dozens of plants and animals with extinction, after receiving pledges from chemical manufacturers that they will change product labels for malathion so that it’s used more carefully by gardeners, farmers and other consumers. More:


US officials reverse course on pesticide’s harm to wildlife

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. wildlife officials reversed their previous finding that a widely used and highly toxic pesticide could jeopardize dozens of plants and animals with extinction, after receiving pledges from chemical manufacturers that they will change product labels for malathion so that it’s used more carefully by gardeners, farmers and other consumers. More:

08/03/2022 -

Scientists in Kenya have discovered an organic way of protecting potatoes from the invasive and highly destructive potato cyst nematodes that attack planted seed causing major yield and financial losses. More:


Banana waste wrap could help save potatoes

Scientists in Kenya have discovered an organic way of protecting potatoes from the invasive and highly destructive potato cyst nematodes that attack planted seed causing major yield and financial losses. More:

08/03/2022 -

On 2 March, world leaders and environment ministers agreed to start negotiations on the world’s first legally binding international treaty to eliminate one of humanity’s most devastating sources of pollution: plastics. This hugely positive step has the power to attack the problem as never before. But to achieve this goal, science needs to be front and centre in the negotiations. More:


Landmark treaty on plastic pollution must put scientific evidence front and centre

On 2 March, world leaders and environment ministers agreed to start negotiations on the world’s first legally binding international treaty to eliminate one of humanity’s most devastating sources of pollution: plastics. This hugely positive step has the power to attack the problem as never before. But to achieve this goal, science needs to be front and centre in the negotiations. More:

07/03/2022 -

Toxic PFAS are often added into consumer products to make items stain- or water-resistant. But mounting evidence indicates that many products made without the intentional addition of PFAS are also contaminated. More:

PFAS in Food Packaging

Unintentional PFAS in products: A “jungle” of contamination

Toxic PFAS are often added into consumer products to make items stain- or water-resistant. But mounting evidence indicates that many products made without the intentional addition of PFAS are also contaminated. More:

PFAS in Food Packaging
04/03/2022 -

A tiny, poppy seed-sized particle of plastic might seem innocuous on its own. But when a speck of plastic is coupled with organic pollutants, the chemical makeup of that plastic can swell with toxicity. More:


Microplastics plus organic pollutants equals 10 times the toxicity, study finds

A tiny, poppy seed-sized particle of plastic might seem innocuous on its own. But when a speck of plastic is coupled with organic pollutants, the chemical makeup of that plastic can swell with toxicity. More:

03/03/2022 -

In front of the United Nations African headquarters in Nairobi, a 30-foot-high artwork featuring a faucet “spewing” a long stream of plastic waste dramatically illustrates the worsening flow of plastic fouling the world. Inside the main hall, 175 UN delegates took the first formal steps to turn off the tap. They agreed to negotiate the first comprehensive global treaty to curb plastic pollution—a move hailed as the most significant environmental agreement since the Paris climate accord in 2015. More:


The world’s nations agree to fix the plastic waste crisis

In front of the United Nations African headquarters in Nairobi, a 30-foot-high artwork featuring a faucet “spewing” a long stream of plastic waste dramatically illustrates the worsening flow of plastic fouling the world. Inside the main hall, 175 UN delegates took the first formal steps to turn off the tap. They agreed to negotiate the first comprehensive global treaty to curb plastic pollution—a move hailed as the most significant environmental agreement since the Paris climate accord in 2015. More:

03/03/2022 -

Five decades ago in an opera house in Stockholm Sweden, world leaders opened discussions that would lead to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Since that meeting on 5 June 1972, UNEP has become the world's leading advocate for nature, using science, diplomacy and public outreach to counter a range of threats, from pollution to climate change. Here's a closer look at UNEP's work over the last 50 years and how it's helping to make the planet a more sustainable, equitable place. More:


50 years of environmental milestones

Five decades ago in an opera house in Stockholm Sweden, world leaders opened discussions that would lead to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Since that meeting on 5 June 1972, UNEP has become the world's leading advocate for nature, using science, diplomacy and public outreach to counter a range of threats, from pollution to climate change. Here's a closer look at UNEP's work over the last 50 years and how it's helping to make the planet a more sustainable, equitable place. More:

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