WORKING GROUP WILL HELP GLOBAL RESEARCH ON ORGANIC POLLUTANTS

2 November 1995

Press Release
HE/912

WORKING GROUP WILL HELP GLOBAL RESEARCH ON ORGANIC POLLUTANTS

19951102 UNEP Meeting Reviews Threat Posed by Toxic Chemicals; Agencies and Industry Groups Join to Seek Ways to Respond

WASHINGTON D.C., 30 October (UNEP) -- The urgency with which the international community must face the global threat posed by persistent organic pollutants was underscored at a meeting on Saturday, 28 October, convened by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on behalf of the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals. (The Programme comprises a group of United Nations and related agencies -- UNEP, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)).

Called to set up a working group to assist with the speedy assessment of existing knowledge on these toxic chemicals, the socio-economic impact of their reduction or elimination, possible substitutes and realistic response strategies, the meeting finalized the group's terms of reference and outlined a work plan for the coming months.

The working group met at the headquarters of the Pan-American Health Organization and took advantage of the presence in Washington of many interested parties for the ongoing intergovernmental conference at the United States State Department on protection of the marine environment from land-based activities. Representatives of a number of developed and developing countries were present at the UNEP meeting, along with non-governmental organizations, industry groups and United Nations agencies.

Reacting to increasing global concern about the immediate and long-term effects of certain toxic chemicals, the UNEP Governing Council called this past May for a speedy assessment process on 12 specific organic pollutants. Existing information on their chemistry and toxicology would be consolidated, along with an analysis of relevant transport pathways, their sources and the deposition of these substances on a global scale. The need to examine the sources, benefits and risks relevant to their production and use, particularly

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on developing countries, was emphasized, along with the availability and cost-effectiveness of possible substitutes. The Governing Council sought recommendations for realistic response strategies, policies and mechanisms for reducing and/or eliminating effects of the named pollutants.

Starting points for action would be the work on a legally-binding regional instrument already being developed under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe as a protocol to its Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, and the recent decision by parties to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution to reduce, by 2005, discharges and emissions of persistent organic pollutants able to reach the marine environment.

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