New POPs PBEs and Lindane POPs Report Adobe Acrobat .pdf 288KB The Next Generation of POPs: PBDEs and Lindane "Keep the Promise, Eliminate POPs!" Campaign and Community Monitoring Working Group of the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) Report Ann Blake, PhD April, 2005 Executive Summary The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is the first global, legally binding instrument whose aim is to protect human health and the environment by controlling the production, use and disposal of toxic chemicals. As ratified, the Convention addresses a 'dirty dozen' group of chemicals, primarily pesticides. The Convention recognizes that all POPs-like chemicals, those that stay in the environment for a long time, are poisonous, and build up in living things¾pose an unacceptable threat to human health and the environment. The Convention establishes a science-based process for identifying and eliminating POPs worldwide. It also applies the 'precautionary approach' by recognizing that there does not have to be absolute, final proof that a chemical is doing harm before action on it is taken. The International POPS Elimination Network (IPEN) views the Stockholm Convention as a promise to take actions needed to protect the global public’s health and the global environment from injuries that are caused by persistent organic pollutants, a promise that was agreed by representatives of the global community: governments, interested stakeholders, and representatives of civil society. We call upon all Stockholm Convention Parties and stakeholders to honor the integrity of the Convention at the first Conference of the Parties (COP1) in Uruguay. IPEN has collected chicken eggs from hot spots around the world and analyzed them for the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), and hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH, lindane). The eggs were obtained from locations near hazardous waste and municipal solid waste incinerators, waste dumps and locations near petroleum and other industrial chemical plants. The results and potential health and environmental impacts of these chemicals are presented below. These data in combination with existing data on PBDEs and lindane support IPEN’s contention that these chemicals have the same chemical characteristics as the dirty dozen initially listed in the Stockholm Convention, and should be added as targets for global elimination. Recommendation: The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) should promptly add PBDEs and lindane (hexachlorocyclohexane, HCH) to the Stockholm Convention in order to eliminate their production and use around the world.	NEWS Keep the Promise Campaign Hotspot Egg Sampling Reports Global Egg Sampling Report COP1 Handbook New POPs