International Treaties

On this page:

• The Stockholm Convention
• How to get involved
• Resources
  (Stockholm Convention, Rotterdam Convention and the Montreal Protocol)

The Stockholm Convention

Persistent organic pollutants, also called POPs, are among the most dangerous chemicals ever created by humans. POPs chemicals include many pesticides, industrial chemicals and chemical byproducts. Despite their different uses and origins, all POPs share basic characteristics that make them an urgent global environmental health problem:

• POPs break down very slowly in soil, air, water and living organisms, and persist in the environment for long periods of time.

• POPs concentrate in the food chain, building up to high levels in the tissues of all living creatures, including humans.

• POPs travel long distances in global air and water currents, and concentrate in high-latitude, low-temperature regions of the globe.

• POPs are linked with serious health effects in humans and other species, including reproductive and developmental illnesses, immune suppression, nervous system disorders, cancers and hormone disruption.

In a few short decades, POPs have spread throughout the environment to threaten human health and damage land and water ecosystems all over the world. Every living organism on earth now carries measurable levels of POPs chemicals in its tissues. The goal of PANNA's POPs campaign is to replace POPs pesticides with non-chemical and least-toxic pest management methods in agriculture and structural pest control.

For the past several years, PANNA and PAN partner groups around the world have been working together to achieve this goal by focusing on UN-sponsored negotiations of an international treaty which sets mandatory timetables for POPs phaseouts, and provides technical and financial assistance to help countries eliminate POPs. These negotations were completed in December 2000, and the treaty was signed by 91 countries in May 2001. By April 2006, 122 countries had ratified the treaty.

The final treaty is a strong and effective tool for elimination of an entire class of dangerous chemicals. The 12 POPs initially included under the treaty are the pesticides endrin, mirex, toxaphene, chlordane, heptachlor, aldrin, dieldrin and DDT; the industrial chemicals hexachlorobenzene (also used as a pesticide) and PCBs; and the industrial byproducts dioxins and furans.

At the first official meeting of the Stockholm Convention in May 2005, five additional chemicals were targeted for consideration: the pesticides lindane and chlordecone and the chemicals pentabromodiphenyl ether, hexabromobiphenyl and perflurooctane sulfonate. Many other compounds are likely to be targeted for elimination under the treaty as well. Organochlorine pesticides that PAN would like to see added to the list include endosulfan, pentachlorophenol, dicofol and methoxychlor.

We are now focusing on pressuring the U.S. government to ratify the treaty in a way that doesn't undermine it, speeding the process of adding new POPs pesticides to the treaty, and supporting rapid and effective implementation of the treaty worldwide.

How to get involved

Take Action! Tell the U.S. Congress to Join Global Treaty on Dangerous Pollutants!

See: http://www.USpopswatch.org and http://www.ipen.org for more background and action opportunities.

Contact: Kristin Schafer (Program Coordinator) by email or voice at (415) 981-6205 ext. 327.

Resources

Stockholm Convention - PAN Information Sites

• DDT and Malaria Resource Center
• Ban Lindane Now!

Stockholm Convention - PAN Articles and Media Releases

• Global Treaty Targets Dangerous Pollutants (April 2006)
• Congress Struggles to Ratify Global Toxics Treaty (March 2006)
• Governments Celebrate POPs Treaty and Target New Chemicals (August 2005)
• POPs Treaty Achieves 50th Ratification (April 2004)
• Tell the U.S. Congress to Block Bill Undermining POPs Treaty (March 24, 2004)
• Tell the U.S. Senate Not to Gut the POPs Treaty (August 29, 2003)
• More Nations Ratify POPs: But Bush Stalls U.S. Effort (November 2002)
• Stockholm Convention Ratifications Gain Momentum (November 1, 2002)
• Ratifying Global Toxics Treaties: The U.S. Must Provide Leadership, (September 2001)

Stockholm Convention - Other Resources and Links

• One More Failed U.S. Environmental Policy
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
• World Wildlife Fund
• Indigenous Environmental Network
• US EPA POPs Booklet
• Reports -- Resources from IPEN, EPA and WWF for COP1 (May 3, 2005)
• Letter -- PAN Philippines Director on DDT and Malaria (January 20, 2005)
• FPIF Article -- U.S. Slow to Ratify POPs Treaty (October 4, 2002)
• NYT Article -- POPs Treaty Cites PAN(April 20, 2001)

Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent - PAN Articles

• PIC Lists 14 New Chemicals (September 27, 2004)
• First Word (December 2003)
• Progress on PIC (December 2002)
• Prior Informed Consent Update (August 1999)

Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent - Other Resrouces and Links

• PAN UK Web page
• Rotterdam Convention
  

  Yearbook of International Co-operation on Environment and Development, on PIC Treaty

Montreal Protocol and Methyl Bromide - PAN Webpages

• Secondhand Pesticides: Airborne Pesticide Drift

Montreal Protocol and Methyl Bromide - PAN Articles

• Methyl Bromide Loophole for U.S. Prolongs Ozone Hole (August 1, 2005)
• “Critical Use” Exemptions—the Methyl Bromide Loophole (August 2005)
• U.S. Muscles Montreal Protocol on MB Limits (December 10, 2004)
• Methyl Bromide in Montreal (April 5, 2004)
  Global Coalition Urges China to Control Sales of Methyl Bromide (January 4, 2001)
  Non-chemical Alternatives to Methyl Bromide (1999)

Montreal Protocol and Methyl Bromide - Other Resources and Links

• Montreal Protocol: United Nations Development Programme
• United Nations Industrial Development Organization
• The Ozone Hole
• U.S. EPA, Methyl Bromide Questions & Answers
• Toxicity information on methyl bromide
• Additional resources on methyl bromide