Protecting
human health and environment from hazardous chemicals
5 October 2006, Geneva/Rome
– Officials from over 100 Governments will meet
in Geneva next week to decide whether to add chrysotile
asbestos – which accounts for some 94% of global
asbestos consumption – to a trade “watch list”
that already contains 39 hazardous substances,
including all other forms of asbestos.
Established under the Rotterdam
Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC)
Procedure for certain Hazardous Chemicals and
Pesticides in International Trade, the so-called
PIC list promotes transparency and information
sharing about possible risks. It does not impose
any bans.
Last February, a technical panel
of experts determined that chrysotile meets the
Convention’s conditions for listing. A key requirement
is that two countries from two different regions
of the world must have banned or severely restricted
the particular chemical.
“Protecting people and the environment
from hazardous chemicals and pesticides requires
a robust system for sharing information about
risks and safety procedures. To remain relevant,
the Convention will need to evolve to address
commercially valuable substances that can be dangerous
unless the necessary precautions are understood
and adopted,” said Executive Director Achim Steiner
of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
“The implementation of the Rotterdam
Convention enables parties to protect human health
and the environment from unwanted pesticides.
We need to build a strong and effective regime
at national level that can keep pace with the
dramatic growth in both world trade and chemicals
use,” said Alexander Müller, Officer-in-Charge
of the Department of Agriculture, Biosecurity,
Nutrition and Consumer Protection, of the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), which, together with UNEP, provides the
Convention’s secretariat.
Under the Convention, exports
of chemicals and pesticides on the list require
the prior informed consent of the importing country.
This gives developing countries in particular
the power to decide which potentially hazardous
chemicals or pesticides they want to receive and
to exclude those they cannot manage safely. Exporting
countries are responsible for ensuring that no
exports leave their territory when an importing
country has made the decision not to accept the
chemical or pesticide in question.
The International Labour Organization
(ILO) adopted a Resolution earlier this year calling
for the elimination of all uses of chrysotile.
The resolution reflected the World Health Organization's
concern that chrysotile is associated with many
thousands of deaths around the world from lung
cancer and mesothelomia.
Other issues on the agenda of
the Third Meeting of the Conference of the Parties
to the Rotterdam Convention (COP 3) are technical
assistance, financing, non-compliance, and cooperation
with other treaties and organizations.
The Fourth Meeting of the COP
will take place in 2008, when Governments will
decide on the next round of proposed additions
to the watch list. One of these proposals involves
tributyl tin (TBT), which is used in anti-fouling
paints for ship hulls and is toxic to fish, molluscs
and other organisms. The other addresses endosulfan,
an insecticide that is widely used around the
world, particularly for cotton.
Some 70,000 different chemicals
are available on the market today, and around
1,500 new ones are introduced every year. This
can pose a major challenge to regulators charged
with monitoring and managing these potentially
dangerous substances. Many pesticides that have
been banned or whose use has been severely restricted
in industrialized countries are still marketed
and used in developing countries.
The Geneva conference runs from
9 to 13 October at the Geneva International Conference
Center. For more information, please see www.pic.int
or contact the UNEP or FAO press office.
Footnote: The Convention’s list
includes the following hazardous pesticides: 2,4,5-T,
aldrin, binapacryl, captafol, chlordane, chlordimeform,
chlorobenzilate, DDT, DNOC and its salts, ethylene
dichloride, ethylene oxide 1,2-dibromoethane (EDB),
dieldrin, dinoseb, fluoroacetamide, HCH, heptachlor,
hexachlorobenzene, lindane, mercury compounds,
monocrotophos, parathion, pentachlorophenol and
toxaphene, plus certain formulations of methamidophos,
methyl-parathion, and phosphamidon, as well as
dustable-powder formulations containing a combination
of benomyl at or above 7 per cent, carbofuran
at or above 10 per cent and thiram at or above
15 per cent. It also covers eleven industrial
chemicals: five forms of asbestos (actinolite,
anthophyllite, amosite, crocidolite and tremolite),
polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCB), polychlorinated terphenyls (PCT)
tetraethyl lead, tetramethyl lead and tris (2,3
dibromopropyl) phosphate.
UNEP: Press officer Michael Williams / Nick Nuttall
