ENVIRONMENT: UNEP Seeks To Reduce Trade In Hazardous Chemicals

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

NAIROBI, Mar 27 1998 (IPS) - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is stepping up a campaign to regulate the growing international trade in hazardous chemicals.

The Nairobi-based UN agency says it will push for a concerted action when governments meet again in Montreal, Canada, on Jun. 29 to launch talks on a second treaty that will minimize the release of chemicals like DDT into the environment.

DDT, whose scientific name is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, is a colourless odourless substance used as an insecticide. DDT, which is toxic to animals and is known to accumulate in the tissues, has been banned in many countries.

“Thousands of people are killed or seriously poisoned by toxic pesticides and chemicals every year,” said Klaus Topfer, UNEP’s executive director.

In a statement released here on Friday, and made available to IPS, Topfer said the first treaty reached in Montreal provided for a first line of defense against future tragedies by preventing unwanted imports of dangerous chemicals, particularly in developing countries.

“The next treaty will build on this accomplishment by reducing or eliminating releases and emissions of hazardous chemicals into the global environment,” he said.

Many countries have developed extensive regulatory controls at the national level. But because chemicals circulate globally — whether through trade or naturally via air, water, and animals — no country acting alone can protect its citizens or environment from risk. Concerted action is needed.

“In recent years, scientists have learned a great deal more about the long-term effects that low dosages of certain chemicals can have,” said Topfer.

“We now understand that in addition to the deaths and acute effects caused by direct and immediate contact, hazardous chemicals persist for years at background levels that can cause long-term damage to human health and the environment. There is also evidence that these substances travel to remote areas, so that international borders do not offer any protection to anyone,” he said.

According to Topfer, another reason for the urgency to regulate the hazards is the accumulation of unwanted and obsolete stockpiles of pesticides and toxic chemicals, particularly in developing countries.

He said dump sites and toxic drums from the 1950s, 60s and 70s were now decaying and leaching chemicals into the soil and thus poisoning water resources, wildlife, and people. A great deal of infrastructure and equipment such as electrical transformers and capacitors are also at or near the end of their useful lives leaking polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other dangerous chemicals.

The Montreal Convention in June will establish an international alert list and help developing countries obtain the information they need to protect themselves.

The talks will focus on the release and emissions of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which include some of the most toxic chemicals ever developed. According to UNEP, the talks will start with a list of 12 POPs: aldrin, chlordane, ddt, dieldrin, dioxins, endrin, furans, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, PCBs, and toxaphene.

UNEP says the negotiations, which will be under the auspices of the agency, will be completed by the year 2000.

Topfer said evidence about the likely health effects of POPs is steadily growing. Effects can include cancer, allergies and hypersensitivity, and diseases of the central and peripheral nerval systems and the immune system. Reproductive disorders are thought to result from chemicals that function as “endoctrine disrupters”. Interference with the development and the immunological system of children is of particular concern.

With worldwide sales of some 1.5 trillion U.S. Dollars annually, the chemicals industry is a vital part of the modern industrial economy, providing a range of goods and services essential to the human lifestyle.

The number of different chemicals in production is on the rise, and estimates of the chemicals currently on the market vary widely, from 20,000 to as many as 70,000.

Annual production levels are estimated at some 400 million tonnes, according to UNEP.

“Clearly, the dramatic growth in both the quantities and the variety of substances being released into the environment increases the potential for damaging human health and the environment,” said Topfer.