| Montreal, 18/10/1996 – Action plans aimed at reducing the dangerous effects of mercury and two pesticides in North America are being released today for public comment. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), whose governing body is composed of high-level environmental officials from Canada, Mexico and the United States, sent out copies of the plans to nearly 100 scientists, representatives of non-governmental organizations and industry. An action plan for PCBs was already sent out for public review.
Comments and suggestions on the four action plans will be reviewed by the working groups that developed the action plans. At a meeting to be held in Mexico City at the end of the month, working group participants will take these comments into account while preparing the final drafts of the regional hazardous chemical action plans. The first draft action plans will be presented to the three governments by the end of the year. This is the second time the working group has released the draft action plans for public comment.
The North American environment ministers chose the group of four hazardous substances—PCBs, mercury, chlordane and DDT—at their annual meeting last year in Oaxaca, Mexico. Canada, Mexico and the United States created a high-level working group in response to growing global concern over the health dangers posed by such substances. The CEC Council of Ministers agreed that these four dangerous substances would be the first to be identified by the three countries for eventual reduction or regional phase-out. While steps have been taken in Canada, Mexico and the United States to control the use and release of all four substances they continue to exist at unacceptable levels in the North American environment. In keeping with international commitments, two other hazardous pollutants or heavy metals will be identified by the NAFTA partners by the end of this year.
The CEC, equally funded by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States, is located in Montreal. The Council of Ministers is composed of Canadian Environment Minister Sergio Marchi, the Mexican Secretary of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries Julia Carabias, and EPA Administrator Carol Browner. |
