Geneva, 21 October
2003 - The 17 new Parties to the
Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants
(POPs) are to celebrate its entry into
force this Thursday, 23 October.
The Protocol, signed
by 35 countries and the European Union
at its adoption in Aarhus, Denmark,
in 1998, is the sixth to take effect
under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary
Air Pollution of the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
Since the announcement
earlier in the year that the Protocol
would enter into force, another country,
Romania, has ratified it. All 17 Parties,
i.e. Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands,
Norway, Republic of Moldova, Romania,
Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland, are
expected to attend the first meeting
of the Parties to the Protocol, which
will take place at the time of the Convention's
Executive Body annual session on 15-18
December 2003.
The Protocol at present
covers 16 substances: 11 pesticides
(including DDT, aldrin, dieldrin, lindane,
hexachlorobenzene and heptachlor), 2
industrial chemicals (hexabromobiphenyl
and PCBs) and 3 by-products/contaminants
(dioxins/furans, hexachlorobenzene and
polyaromatic hydrocarbons). The Protocol
aims to eliminate any discharges, emissions
and losses of these 16 POPs.
The POPs concerned
have a wide range of harmful effects
on man and on wildlife. Some are believed
to cause birth defects, or affect physical
and intellectual development, some are
carcinogenic, whilst others may harm
the immune system. Foetuses and infants
are particularly at risk, exposed through
the placenta or breast milk.
While the production
and use of some products are banned
outright, others are scheduled for elimination
at a later stage, while a few are subject
to severe restrictions. Waste product
emissions must meet specific limit values
and Parties must reduce emissions of
by-products below their levels in 1990.
Parties to the Protocol
at their first meeting will be considering
how they will review the sufficiency
and effectiveness of the Protocol and
may decide later how its provisions
might be updated. Such updates could
include the addition, following thorough
technical appraisal, of more substances
to the Protocol.
For further information, please contact:
Keith BULL
Environment and Human Settlements
Division
United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE)
Palais des Nations, office 346
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41(0)22
917 23 54
Fax: +41(0)22 907 06 21
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/
Ref: ECE/ENV/03/P22