Rome, 1 April 2011 -
United Nations chemical experts have recommended
that two pesticides - endosulfan and azinphos
methyl - and one severely hazardous pesticide
formulation - Gramoxone Super - be included
in the Rotterdam Convention's Prior Informed
Consent procedure. Three industrial chemicals
- perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), its
salts and precursors; pentaBDE commercial
mixtures; and octaBDE commercial mixtures
- were also recommended for inclusion.
The Convention's Chemical
Review Committee based its recommendation
on a review of national regulatory actions
taken by Benin, Canada, European Union,
Japan, New Zealand, and Norway to ban or
restrict the use of chemicals that pose
an unacceptable risk to human health and
the environment.
"For the first
time since the Convention entered into force
in 2004, the Committee has recommended adding
a severely hazardous pesticide formulation
to the Watch List, advancing our Parties'
efforts to ensure that countries' rights
to know and trade chemicals safely are respected,"
said FAO's Peter Kenmore, Co-Executive Secretary
of the Rotterdam Convention.
Gramoxone Super is an
herbicide containing paraquat dichloride,
which is used to control weeds in cotton,
rice and maize. Burkina Faso had proposed
to include Gramoxone Super as a severely
hazardous pesticide formulation (SHPF) into
Annex III of the Convention due to the problems
experienced caused by this pesticide formulation
under conditions of use in its territory.
PentaBDE and octaBDE
commercial mixtures are brominated flame
retardants. Due to their toxicity and persistence,
their industrial production is set to be
eliminated under the Stockholm Convention
on persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
"The recommendation
to include these three industrial chemicals
marks an acceleration in the rate of submission
of industrial chemicals to the CRC for review
of these substances known to harm human
health and the environment. This is, as
a result, in part, through the cooperative
exchange of information from our sister
scientific review committee under the Stockholm
Convention," said Donald Cooper, Co-Executive
Secretary of the Rotterdam Convention.
The recommendations
will be forwarded to the fifth meeting of
the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam
Convention in June 2011.
Greening the FAO
The Chemical Review
Committee was the first meeting in the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) to be held completely paperless.
A paperless meeting has the benefit of considerably
reducing the carbon footprint of the meeting.
Additional
Jointly supported by
the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO) and by the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the
Rotterdam Convention prevents unwanted trade
in the chemicals included in its legally
binding prior informed consent (PIC) procedure.
The Rotterdam Convention
does not introduce bans but fosters information
exchange mechanisms to help improve decision
making about the trade of hazardous chemicals.
It enables member Governments to alert each
other to potential dangers by exchanging
information on chemicals and to take informed
decisions with regard to whether they want
to import such chemicals in the future.
The Convention makes
the international trade in hazardous chemicals
more transparent and less vulnerable to
abuse through its export notification provisions
and by encouraging harmonized labeling of
chemicals. Exporting member Governments
are responsible for ensuring that no exports
leave their territory when an importing
country has made the decision not to accept
a PIC chemical.
In this way, the Rotterdam
Convention helps member Governments to improve
their national capacity for chemicals management,
and to protect human health and the environment.
It also encourages all stakeholders to identify
and promote safer alternatives.
For more information, please see www.pic.int.
