ED STODDARD, Johannesburg | Tuesday
DELEGATES from more than 120 countries have begun a week of talks to devise a global treaty that conservationists hope will ban production of the so-called ”Dirty Dozen” of the world’s most dangerous chemicals.
The talks, under the auspices of the UN Environment Programme, are the fifth round of global discussions on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and are expected to produce a treaty to be signed at a diplomatic conference scheduled for Stockholm next May.
POPs, which include DDT and PCBs, have been linked to an array of adverse effects, including death, disease and birth defects among humans and animals.
They are used in a wide range of industrial and farming activities, from paint additives to pesticides that kill crop-eating insects.
Highly stable compounds, they can last for years or decades before breaking down and circle the globe in air and water through a process scientists dub the ”grasshopper effect”.
Because of this, conservationists say POPs have had a devastating impact on human and wildlife populations worldwide, even in pristine Arctic and Antarctic habitats thousands of kilometres from the original source.
A diplomatic source close to the talks said the European Union was leading the charge for elimination of the 12 main POPs singled out for urgent attention – dubbed the ”Dirty Dozen” – as well as a ban on new chemicals with POP characteristics.
South African Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Rejoice Mabudafhasi told the delegates Pretoria supported the restriction of DDT for public health purposes but also called for accelerated research on cures for malaria, Africa’s biggest killer disease.
South Africa wants to retain the use of DDTs for malaria control, a position widely expected to be endorsed.
”We believe that the implementation aspects of this convention should focus on the phasing-out programme of DDT in the context of addressing the current malaria crisis that southern, eastern African and other developing countries are facing,” Mabudafhasi said.
As she spoke, about 30 activists from environmental pressure group Greenpeace held a demonstration outside the conference centre, dressed in yellow chemical protection suits.
Conservationists complained that five industrial powers – the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – were seeking to water down aspects of the treaty. – Reuters