Thursday 19 February 2004

France became a party to the UN Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) on February 17, triggering a 90-day countdown for the treaty to become binding international law.

"POPs weaken the immune systems of whales and polar bears, contaminate our food and are wreaking havoc in wildlife and people throughout the world," said Matthew Wilkinson, Head of WWF-UK's Toxics Programme. "The Stockholm POPs Convention will ban or severely restrict these dangerous chemicals. The UK should follow France's lead and ratify the Convention."

The treaty targets twelve extremely harmful chemicals, including PCBs, dioxins, and several pesticides, with provisions to add additional chemicals in the future. POPs are hazardous because they are toxic and persistent – resisting normal processes that break down contaminants. They accumulate in the body fat of people and animals such as whales, dolphins and polar bears and are passed from mother to foetus. They can also travel great distances on wind and water currents. Even small quantities of POPs can cause nervous system damage, diseases of the immune system, reproductive and developmental disorders, and cancers.

WWF played a lead NGO role in the treaty negotiations which concluded in May, 2001, and has been pressing governments to expedite their ratifications. "Achieving the requisite 50 parties in less than three years is a huge victory," said Wilkinson. "The Stockholm Convention is unique in attacking the problem at its source, banning outright or severely restricting some of the world's most dangerous chemicals."