PROTOCOL TO CONTROL PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS TO ENTER INTO FORCE

PROTOCOL TO CONTROL PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS TO ENTER INTO FORCE

GENEVA, 5 August (ECE) -- France has become the sixteenth country to ratify the Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).  The Protocol will, consequently, enter into force on 23 October 2003.

The Protocol, originally adopted on 24 June 1998 in Aarhus, Denmark, and signed by 35 countries and the European Community, is the sixth to take effect under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE).

It focuses on 16 substances:  11 pesticides, two industrial chemicals and three by-products/contaminants.  Its ultimate objective is to eliminate any discharges, emissions and losses of these POPs.  POPs are thought to cause birth defects and reduce male sperm counts.  They may also have a detrimental effect on physical and intellectual development, and damage the immune system.  Foetuses and infants are particularly at risk.  They can be exposed through the placenta and breast milk.

The Protocol bans the production and use of some products outright (aldrin, chlordane, chlordecone, dieldrin, endrin, hexabromobiphenyl, mirex and toxaphene).  Others are scheduled for elimination at a later stage (DDT, heptachlor, hexaclorobenzene, PCBs).  Finally, the Protocol severely restricts the use of DDT, HCH (including lindane) and PCBs.  The Protocol includes provisions for dealing with the waste of products that will be banned.  It also obliges Parties to reduce their emissions of dioxins, furans, PAHs and HCB below their levels in 1990 (or an alternative year between 1985 and 1995).  For the incineration of municipal, hazardous and medical waste, it lays down specific limit values.

The 16 Parties to the Protocol -- Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Moldova, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland -- will have their first meeting in December 2003 in Geneva.  Here, these Parties are likely to discuss and initiate work on a review of some of the provisions of the Protocol to see if they need to be updated.  They may also begin to consider the addition of other substances to the list currently covered by the Protocol.

For further information, please contact:  Keith BULL, Environment and Human Settlements Division, Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), 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:  keith.bull@unece.org; Web site: http://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/.

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