Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP): a decisive step
17 January 1997
"The recent scientific discoveries concerning the effects of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on
human health are particularly worrying," says Lars Nordberg, Deputy Director of the Environment
Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE). "The current negotiations
under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution are, therefore, particularly relevant
and urgent. Next week's meeting (20-24 January 1997) should enable us to draw up a final list of
these dangerous substances which should be regulated."
POPs, such as DDT, toxaphene, chlordane, aldrin, PCBs and dioxin, can generate cancer and damage
the human reproductive system. They also have a detrimental effect on physical development, and
damage the endocrine glands and the immune system. A study by the US Academy of Sciences has
shown that POPs are responsible for more than 20,000 cancers in the USA alone. The harmful effects
of POPs on male fertility are also increasingly evident. Recent research at the University of South
Carolina Medical School proves that industrial pollution could be responsible for falling sperm counts.
Last November, the Executive Body to the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution
requested its negotiating arm, the Working Group on Strategies, to move the negotiations of a protocol
on persistent organic pollutants forward as expeditiously as circumstances would allow, so that it
might be finalized in early 1998.
A two-stage process has been followed. First the ad hoc Preparatory Working Group, operating as a
"non-negotiating forum", drafted a comprehensive negotiating text for the protocol. This text is now
ready. It reflects the possible format of the future protocol (including basic obligations, procedures for
modifying the list of substances, and technical annexes). It proposes that the basic obligations should
be applied to an initial list of 16 to 18 substances which have already been identified according to
certain criteria and the availability of information on their risk. The structure of the basic obligations
makes it possible to take a wide range of control and management actions, from banning or phasing
out substances to restricting their use and controlling their emissions. For many articles and clauses
alternatives have been provided. Finally, the draft protocol has been designed to stand the test of time
by incorporating the ability to modify the list of substances and the actions taken without making it
necessary to renegotiate the entire protocol.
The second and final stage starts next week, when the Parties to the Convention, working with the
composite text, will begin formal negotiations within the Working Group on Strategies and decide on
the initial list of POPs to which the new protocol will apply. Another session is scheduled for the week
of 16-20 June 1997 and another will be convened in the autumn of this year if necessary.