Treaty Targets Long-Lasting Chemicals

April 12, 2002

President Bush is submitting the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) to the Senate for ratification. Additional legislation to amend existing U.S. laws needed to implement POPs and two other related treaties is also being submitted to Congress. President Bush endorsed the treaty in a Rose Garden Ceremony on April 19, 2001. The treaty was signed by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Whitman on behalf of the United States in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 23, 2001.

The Stockholm Convention targets 12 toxic chemicals which persist in the environment for long periods of time, accumulate in the food chain, and travel great distances. The 12 POPs include certain pesticides, industrial chemicals and unintended byproducts of combustion such as DDT, PCBs and dioxin.

"Concerted global action addressing these 12 toxic chemicals and pesticides will provide significant protection to the health of many Americans, particularly Alaskan residents and those who live around the Great Lakes," said Whitman. "Taking strong steps to reduce these chemicals will also have significant benefits for the health of millions of people throughout the world, especially in developing nations," she continued.

Bush's legislative proposal will implement three international environmental agreements that are designed to protect environmental and human health in the United States and the world: The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, (signed in Stockholm, May 23, 2001); the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (signed in Rotterdam, Sept. 11, 1998); and the Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants (signed in Aarhus on June 24, 1998). The legislative package submitted to Congress also includes amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.

The Stockholm Convention is intended to eliminate or restrict the production, use and/or release of twelve chemicals that, due to their persistence in the environment, can affect human health throughout the globe, regardless of the location of their use. The Convention obligates all participating countries to take measures to eliminate or restrict the production, use and trade of intentionally produced POPs; to develop action plans to address the release of byproduct POPs, such as using best available techniques to reduce emissions of POPs from new sources; and to address the safe handling and disposal of POPs stockpiles and wastes. Background documents are available at: www.epa.gov/pesticides.