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In 1998, in
response to urgent international pressure calling for global
actions to reduce and eliminate releases of toxic chemicals,
the Stockholm Convention was drafted as a means of
eventually eliminating the 12 most toxic of the POPs—aldrin,
chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, mirex,
toxaphene, polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs),
hexachlorobenzene, dioxins and furans—and establishing a
procedure to target and eliminate new hazardous chemicals in
the future. The Stockholm Convention also provides for
technical and financial assistance for poorer nations to
help them eradicate the chemicals. More than 100 nations
have signed on to the Stockholm Convention, but so far only
21—including Canada, Germany, Sweden and Japan—have ratified
it. Fifty signatory countries are needed for the Convention
to come into force. The United States, perhaps the greatest
producer of POPs in the world, has not ratified the treaty.
POPs remain intact
in the environment for long periods of time, accumulate in
the fatty tissue of living organisms, and are toxic to
humans and wildlife. POPs also circulate globally; they’ve
been found in the tissues of animals as isolated as polar
bears and arctic seals. According to Greenpeace Mexico’s
toxic waste campaign coordinator Mariana Boy Tamborrell, “…POPs
are toxic, persistent, [and] contaminating… 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 system, reproductive disorders and
disruption of the immune system.”
Of particular
concern are the dioxins and furans that result from waste
incineration—the waste “management” choice in many parts of
the United States and around the world. Burning mixed
municipal waste not only destroys useful resources but spews
deadly POP’s into the air, posing a major public health
threat. Recycling prevents these toxic releases by keeping
materials in circulation or treating them appropriately as
hazardous waste. From a Zero Waste perspective, however, an
even better solution is to avoid the production of POPs in
the first place—an objective that starts at the designer’s
desk and is consistent with the Stockholm Convention.
As a nation, we
could be doing much more to protect the global commons from
air and water-borne poisons. Leaving the process to the free
market has not been sufficient. The United States would do
well to ratify the Stockholm Convention and take its place
with those nations seeking to eliminate POPs altogether.
Meanwhile, the more materials that you and I can divert for
recycling and composting, the less toxic pollution will come
from incinerator stacks, landfills, and dirty primary
processing industries. |
