Nations to draft treaty to phase out persistent pollutants

摘要

The first step in what could lead to an international phaseout of a dozen "persistent organic pollutants" (POPs) was taken Nov. 1 by delegates to a United Nations conference on marine pollution in Washington, DC. Some 102 governments attended the two-week conference and agreed to move ahead over the next few years to develop a treaty to address marine pollution resulting from POPs and pesticides as well as sewage, fertilizers, sediments, litter, and habitat destruction. Much of the debate at the UN Environment Programme conference focused on 12 POPs, including polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, DDT, heptachlor, chlor-dane, and other pesticides. Pressure for a legally binding treaty to prohibit use and production of these substances came from North Atlantic countries, led by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. These countries have become increasingly concerned about the long-range transport of POPs by wind and water and their tendency to gather in the cooler northern latitudes and work their way up the food chain (ES&T, August 1995, 357A).