GOVERNMENTS RECEIVE NEW HELP IN INVENTORYING HAZARDOUS PCBS,

ASSESSING EXISTING RISKS

 

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 26 May (UNEP) -- The Secretariat of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous and Other Wastes is releasing a new toolkit today to support decision-making in the inventorying and management of PCBs and PCB-containing equipment.

PCBs -- or polychlorinated biphenyls -- are chemical compounds used in industry as heat-exchange fluids, in electric transformers and capacitors, and as additives in paint, carbonless copy paper, sealants and plastics.  They can pose risks to the nervous, reproductive and immune systems, as well as the liver.  In addition to falling under the scope of the Basel Convention, PCBS are to be phased out by 2025 under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

The toolkit, PCB Inventory and Management Decision Supportive Tool (DST), is the product of experience gathered from PCB-related country projects in Côte d’Ivoire (1997 and 2000-2001), the Gambia (2002) and Thailand (2003) and from other PCB-related activities carried out in the context of implementation of the Basel Convention.

The toolkit will assist government officers and field managers in carrying out inventories of PCBs and PCB-containing equipment in an efficient and organized fashion.  It includes a risk-assessment dimension and provides concrete recommendations and instructions for the management of equipment in use or to be discarded.  In addition, the toolkit will greatly contribute to the efforts of relevant national or provincial authorities in the collection, processing and organization of PCB-related data.  The toolkit will also support medium- and long-term planning, as related, for example, to the preparation of PCB-disposal plans or to transboundary movements of PCB waste.

The toolkit has been developed in Access language for ease of use by Parties to the Basel Convention, as well as Parties to the Stockholm Convention in the context of the implementation of their National Implementation Plans.  Further to the numerous requests received from governments for such a toolkit, the Secretariat of the Basel Convention, in consultation with the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention and with UNEP Chemicals, will be distributing English, French and Spanish versions of the software to any requesting Party, free of charge.  This first version of the toolkit shall be updated after having been tested by parties to the Basel and Stockholm Conventions.

Note to journalists:  For receiving the database on a CD-ROM, please contact the Secretariat of the Basel Convention, Vincent Jugault, Programme Officer, tel.:  +41 22 917 82 23, e-mail:  Vincent.Jugault@unep.ch; or Andreas Arlt, Associate Programme Officer, tel.:  +41 22 917 83 64, e-mail:  Andreas.Arlt@unep.ch.

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