Ratifying Global Toxics Treaties: The U.S. Must Provide Leadership

The international community has, at long last, recognized that there are some toxic chemicals that are just too dangerous to produce, use, and store--put simply, too dangerous to have on the planet. The global treaty resulting from this recognition is an important and welcome international policy milestone that is long overdue.

The chemicals in question are persistent organic pollutants (POPs); these toxic substances can be transported across the globe, persist in the environment, accumulate in the body fat of humans and animals, and concentrate up the food chain. Even at very low levels of exposure, POPs can cause reproductive and developmental disorders, damage to the immune and nervous systems, and a range of cancers. Exposure during key phases of fetal development can be particularly damaging. Infants around the world have been born with an array of POPs already in their blood. Many POPs pervade the environment, even in remote regions such as the Arctic and Antarctic; several have been found at high levels in the blood and breast milk of Inuit women living thousands of miles from the nearest possible source of pollution. POPs are found in today's U.S. food supply, even though many of the chemicals in question have been banned in the United States for decades. ¹

The global nature of these pollutants led the United NationsEnvironment Program (UNEP) to sponsor extensivenegotiations that recently culminated in an international treaty. The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, was signed in Sweden on May 23, 2001 by 91 countries as well as the European Union. ²

The treaty identifies an initial list of twelve POPs slated for elimination. Nine of the 12 (aldrin, endrin, dieldrin, chlordane, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, and toxaphene) are pesticides thathave been targeted for elimination by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) around the world since the early 1980s as part of Pesticide Action Network (PAN) International's "Dirty Dozen" campaign. The other chemicals on the convention's initial list are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and furans. PCBs and the nine listed pesticides have been banned in the United States, some--like DDT--for decades. The United States, however, continues to produce dioxins and furans as byproducts of chlorine-based industries and waste incineration.

The Stockholm Convention establishes various timetables for the elimination of intentionally produced POPs, which include all the listed pesticides and PCBs. Provisions specific to DDT call for its ultimate elimination, but allow interim use of the pesticide for malaria vector control. They also call for aggressive efforts to develop and implement safe and effective alternatives to combat the disease in countries that have not already adopted alternative approaches. DDT is currently used as the product of choice in about two dozen countries, mostly in Africa, for use against mosquitoes carrying malaria. ³ POP byproducts are also slated for ultimate elimination, with an emphasis on alternative, cleaner production processes rather than end-of-the-pipe controls.

The Rotterdam Convention is a complementary treaty providing important controls on international trade of highly toxic chemicals. This convention, signed by 73 nations in 1998, is the formalization of a voluntary Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure, administered jointly by UNEP and the Food and Agriculture Organization since 1989. The Rotterdam Convention requires that any country importing pesticides and certain other hazardous chemicals must be informed of bans or severe restrictions on that chemical in other countries. ⁴ This gives receiving countries the option of refusing shipments of chemicals on the grounds that they may be harmful to the environment or to the health of their populations.

U.S. customs records from domestic ports alone reveal that at least 3.2 billion pounds of pesticides crossed international borders between 1997 and 2000. Nearly 65 million pounds of this total were pesticides that have either been banned or are severely restricted in the United States. ⁵ Developing countries often lack the capacity to adequately evaluate and regulate highly toxic chemicals...