Some POPs pop off – but others linger

Say goodbye to aldrin, endrin and toxaphene which are the first of the Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) chemicals for which there is consensus that production and use have ceased worldwide. This was one of the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) for an international convention on POPs which held its third meeting in Geneva in September. Mariann Lloyd-Smith and Mark Davis report the latest developments.

A total of 115 country delegations worked with 17 intergovernmental and 72 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to advance the Convention which is due for completion by the end of the year 2000. Many of the NGOs were members of the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) which links 210 organisations worldwide. IPEN preceded the negotiation meeting with a two day strategy workshop which brought coherence to the IPEN block and facilitated better participation in the negotiation processes. 
    Other pesticides included in the first tranche of POPs but which fared less well in negotiations are chlordane, dieldrin, heptachlor, mirex, and hexachlorobenzene. All of these have some country specific residual uses and total elimination may take a while. Many of these uses relate to products which were impregnated with chemicals such as chlordane or mirex several years ago to protect them from termite or other pest attack. The products such as telegraph poles and underground cable ducts are said to be prohibitively expensive to replace. 

The DDT debate
One other pesticide, DDT, is still in widespread use for the control of malaria vectors in a number of countries. Mali, Malaysia, Botswana, Thailand, Brazil and the Philippines made statements to the effect that they are controlling malaria vectors without the use of DDT. Most African countries and several others supported a phase out of DDT if effective and economically viable alternatives were made available. An emotive international media campaign which preceded the INC seemed to imply that eliminating DDT would cause millions of children to die from malaria. Although DDT is only recommended for indoor mosquito control, it is recognised that replacing it is a greater challenge than any other POP pesticide. Many countries effectively control malaria without DDT. Nevertheless, resources clearly need to be devoted to the development and widespread dissemination of effective and affordable alternatives. 
    The other, non-pesticidal POPs present different problems. PCBs for example are no longer produced but are very widely used in electrical installations worldwide. Dioxins and furans are by-products of industrial processes and incineration and difficult to control. The focus of debate at INC3 was between dioxin source elimination versus achievable dioxin reduction, the latter option being the one favoured by several industrialised nations while IPEN Groups strongly favoured the former option.

Exemptions
A number of exemptions to the POPs treaty were proposed. The US listed five exemptions, which resulted in considerable debate with only one being agreed to, that is, POPs used in laboratories for analytical ‘reference standards’. The US had proposed that ‘de minimus’ quantities occurring in products should be exempt. This prompted an intense discussion about what actually was meant by this term and how much product contamination should be tolerated. The US also proposed an exemption for those chemicals held by end users at the time of ratification of the POPs treaty. This could lead to massive quantities of effectively banned chemicals remaining in stores, in use, and potentially in illicit trade.

Mariann Lloyd-Smith is Co-ordinator of the National Toxics Network, Australia.
The next INC will take place in Bonn from 20-25 March, 2000.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 46, December 1999, page 19]