ENVIRONMENT:
NGOs Push For Fulfilment of Anti-Pollution Promises
Raúl Pierri
MONTEVIDEO, Apr 25 (IPS) - Environmental organisations from around the world
will be meeting in the Uruguayan capital to demand compliance with the
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and the
expansion of its "black list" of banned chemicals.
POPs are chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods,
become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of
living organisms - and can thus be passed along the food chain - and are
toxic to animals and humans.
The activists meeting in Montevideo will also demand comprehensive studies
to detect the origin of the "dirty dozen" prohibited toxins.
Only a limited number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will be
allowed to participate as observers at the first Conference of the Parties
to the Convention, to be held May 2-6 in the internationally renowned
Uruguayan resort city of Punta del Este.
That is why the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) has organised
an NGO meeting in Montevideo prior to the Conference of the Parties, where
it will present details of a worldwide study on the prevalence of these
toxic chemicals in 18 signatory countries.
The Convention is aimed at eliminating or reducing levels of eight chemicals
used as pesticides (aldrine, chlordane, DDT, dieldrine, eldrine, heptachlor,
mirex and toxaphen), two industrial compounds (hexachlorobenzene and
polychlorinated biphenyls, more commonly known as PCBs), and two
unintentional byproducts of chemical production and the burning of
chlorinated substances (dioxins and furans).
The majority of these chemicals are organochlorines or byproducts of their
production or use.
Exposure to these 12 toxins has been shown to increase the risk of cancer,
hormonal imbalances, neurological disorders, infertility, diabetes and a
weakened immune system.
The Convention, adopted in May 2001 in Stockholm under the auspices of the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has been signed so far by 151
countries and ratified by 97. It entered into force in May 2004.
"Up until now, the only thing that has been done is an inventory of the
pollutants that have been detected, but without determining the exact places
where these emissions are produced. We are going to call on the governments
to report on what they have done during this time," Carlos Santos of REDES,
the Uruguayan affiliate of the worldwide environmental coalition Friends of
the Earth, told IPS.
The NGOs will also demand that the parties to the Convention expand the list
of prohibited chemicals to include pesticides like fipronil, sulfuramide,
lindane, endosulfan and 24D, which are also considered persistent
pollutants.
In Uruguay, for example, the government has banned the import of all
products included in the Convention, but others that are no less dangerous
continue to be used, activists report.
In an interview with IPS, María Cárcamo, a Uruguayan representative of the
Latin American branch of the international Pesticides Action Network
(RAP-AL), noted, "The government banned the insecticide mirex, and that's
good, but it wants to replace it with fipronil or sulfuramide, which have
the same characteristics, even though they aren't encompassed by the
agreement."
In a recent RAP-AL report, Cárcamo stressed that the only ones who gain from
this practice "are the companies that produce and distribute these products,
and unlike the case with mirex, they enjoy the additional benefit of
charging patent payments."
The Latin American countries that have ratified the Stockholm Convention are
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay.
From Apr. 15 to 22, IPEN waged a worldwide campaign it called "Keep the
Promise", referring to the commitments adopted by the countries that are
parties to the Convention. Round table discussions were held in numerous
countries to present the results of international research on POPs
contamination.
The Global Egg Project involved taking samples from chicken eggs in a number
of different countries and having them analysed in a laboratory in the Czech
Republic.
In Uruguay, the tests revealed levels of PCBs and dioxins in the
southeastern town of Minas that were double the maximum limits set by the
European Union (EU) for these substances.
Eggs from free-range chickens were collected near two cement factories in
the area, one run by the Uruguayan state company ANCAP, the other by the
Spanish transnational corporation CUCPSA, both potential sources of the
toxic substances. Minas was chosen as the base for the study because of the
large number of cases of hyperthyroidism reported there last year.
Cárcamo, who will be attending the Conference of Parties in Punta del Este
as an observer, plans to use the opportunity to protest the planned
installation of two pulp mills near the western Uruguayan town of Fray
Bentos, on the banks of the Uruguay River, which forms the border with
Argentina along that stretch.
The two plants, both to be run by foreign companies - ENCE of Spain and
Botnia of Finland - will increase emissions of dioxins and furans in
Uruguay as byproducts of the industrial processing of cellulose, she warned.
Argentina is also concerned about the installation of these plants on the
Uruguay River. Earlier this month, the governor of the eastern province of
Entre Ríos, Jorge Busti, presented Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa
with a comprehensive report on the potential environmental repercussions of
the factories.
In Mexico, eggs gathered in the southeastern city of Coatzacoalcos, home to
a petrochemical complex, contained dioxin levels six times greater than the
EU limits. Mexico has still not formed a committee to design a national
implementation plan, a requirement of all signatories to the Convention.
In Chile, testing revealed high levels of dioxins and furans in eggs
collected in regions where numerous cases of liver, gallbladder and kidney
cancer have been reported. RAP-Al and the Alliance for a Better Quality of
Life presented Chilean President Ricardo Lagos with a letter signed by over
50 civil society groups, with recommendations for living up to the
international agreement.
In January, Chilean environmentalists succeeded in getting the government to
order the closing of a cellulose plant in the southern coastal city of
Valdivia. The pulp mill was shown to have caused the death of an alarming
number of swans in a nearby nature sanctuary. However, the factory has since
reopened.
In Bolivia, the use of toxic agrochemicals has sparked growing concern. In
December 2004, three children died in La Paz after being poisoned through
contact with a chemical insecticide, and in January of this year, seven
campesinos (peasant farmers) died after eating soup contaminated with a
pesticide, although it is still not clear how the chemical got into the
soup.
(END/2005)
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