Greenpeace presents to Mexican senators 12 metal barrels symbolizing hazardous chemicals:


Mexico | May 23, 2002



Greenpeace presents to Mexican senators 12 metal barrels symbolizing hazardous chemicals known as the dirty dozen, calling for the Senate to ratify international treaties banning the toxics.

Greenpeace activists on Thursday placed 12 metal barrels in front of Mexico's Senate building in downtown Mexico City, each one representing one of the so-called "dirty dozen" toxic chemicals considered the most dangerous to health and the environment. The symbolic act was meant to pressure Mexican senators to ratify the Stockholm Convention, which would eradicate these 12 dangerous compounds.

Mexico and 113 other countries signed the Stockholm Convention, also known as the International Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS), on May 23, 2001 at a United Nations meeting. But, a year later only eight countries - Canada, Fiji, Germany, Lesotho, Nauru, Holland, Samoa and Sweden - have ratified it. The Czech republic is about to ratify it. On Thursday organizations in 25 countries took part in protests or acts to pressure their governments and legislatures to ratify the convention.

"We know if we do not take measures to demand that Congress speed up the ratification of the convention, years could go by before it goes into effect, and it's clear we cannot wait any longer. We have to speed up the process because these chemicals are already damaging health and ecosystems. On May 23, 2001 the Mexican government promised the international community that it was seriously committed to eradicating these 12 toxic substances, and a year later Mexico has still not ratified the accord. Members of Congress, it is in your hands the power to give us this legal tool to protect our country's environment and our health," said Mariana Boy Tamborrell, coordinator of Greenpeace Mexico's toxic waste campaign.

Each of the yellow drums placed in front of the Senate office building, known as the Torre del Caballito, were painted with a skull. Each bore the name of one of the dirty dozen chemicals named in the Stockholm convention: aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, mirex, toxaphene, polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs), hexachlorobenzene, dioxins and furans.

Boy Tamborrell said that Greenpeace also presented the Senate with a letter signed by 52 Mexican organizations urging them to ratify the Stockholm Convention as soon as possible. Among signers of the letter were the Mexican Action Network on Alternative Pesticides (RAPAM), Dassur, Laneta, UGAM, Cemda, Tlaxcala environmental groups, Fronteras Comunes and Greenpeace Mexico.

The Stockholm Convention seeks to reduce and eliminate the 12 most toxic chemicals and establish a procedure to add new hazardous chemicals to the list. The international accord also establishes mechanism for technical and financial assistant to developing nations such as Mexico to help them eradicate the chemicals.

"The POPs are toxic, persistent, contaminating, capable of traveling long distances and they accumulate in the food chain. In some cases they can end up excreted in mother's milk, move through the placenta and affect future generations. Health hazards associated with POPs include cancer, hormonal changes, damage to the nervous systems, reproductive disorders and disruption of the immune system," Boy Tamborrell said.

Fernando Bejarano, director of RAPAM, said the International Pops Elimination Network includes more than 300 citizens groups all over the world, and promotes citizen participation to push for the Stockholm Convention to be ratified. The network is pushing for at least 50 governments to ratify the treaty by September 1 this year, when the world summit on sustainable development begins.

At the end of the demonstration, Mariana Boy and Fernando Bejerano handed their petition to senators.

More about POPs

In Mexico most of the dirty dozen are prohibited, however a black market trade in some of the toxics continues. According to Health Ministry authorities, DDT has not been used for two years.

PCBs are no longer imported to Mexico or produced here, but there are tons of PCBs in storage or being used in electricity companies, state oil monopoly Pemex, railroad companies and Mexico Cities Metro subway system.

Dioxins and furans are mostly produced unintentionally, as a byproduct when households burn their garbage, or in incinerators for industrial, municipal or hospital waste. Despite the fact that the convention on POPs seeks to eliminate sources of dioxins, Mexico plans to go ahead with garbage-burning projects and the Mexico City government plans to authorize this harmful practice.


Ratifying the convention would have several advantages for Mexico including:

1) joining an international effort led by the United Nations, given that POPs do not recognize boundaries and cannot be controlled and eliminated without international cooperation;

2) receiving technical and financial assistance from the World Environmental Fund to apply the convention;

3) participate in technical and contact groups to discuss ways to apply the convention;

4) share information with other countries regarding success stories in eliminating DDT as a malaria control product;

5) exchange information with other countries about alternatives to POPs, especially substituting materials and processes to prevent POPs from being formed and seeking cleaner production processes;

6) exchange information and ask for technical assistance to promote technologies to deal with deposits of POPs;

7) carry out wide ranging education campaigns regarding the health risks of these contaminants and to combat black markepesticides.

Cecilia Navarro, Greenpeace Mexico press coordinator, phone: 52 55 8590-5645, cecilia.navarro@mx.greenpeace.org








Version: DRAFT 2.0 (June 1, 2006)