POPRC 6:

Endosulfan Ban Recommended

The POPs Review Committee (POPRC), met in Geneva 11-15th October and voted (24 out of 29 committee members) for the risk management evaluation of endosulfan to be forwarded to the Stockholm Convention COP in May next year. They recommended an international ban with some limited 5 year specific exemptions (to allow for phase out.)

"We are delighted with this decision and look forward to a global ban on his toxic and persistent chemical", said Dr Lloyd Smith, IPEN CoChair.

India refused to participate objecting in principle to the assessment of endosulfan.

As well the committee accepted the risk profile for hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), a chemical used in construction materials and it passed to the next stage of assessment.

"In the program of work for new POPs, the POPRC made a number of important recommendations to the COP", said Lloyd-Smith.

These included the separation of the POP-BDE-containing articles (eg electronic waste, mattresses) before recycling as soon as possible, acknowledging that 'failure to do so will inevitably result in wider human and environmental contamination and the dispersal of POP-BDE into matrices from which recovery is not technically or economically feasible and in loss of long term credibility of recycling'.

The committee also recommended that countries in a position to do so, especially in developed countries, urgently establish and apply screening techniques and separation of materials containing POP-BDE in order to stop the recycling of these materials and to safely store indicative POP-BDE-containing materials and/or articles when screening and separation techniques are not readily available. They recommended that countries not landfill articles with new POPs like PFOS and POP-BDEs.

As well the committee recommended to stop the export of waste materials containing POP-BDE except for the purpose of environmentally sound disposal and to establish national control schemes for recycling of waste potentially containing POP-BDE with rapid implementation of effective screening and separation techniques for POP-BDE containing materials.

Following the implementation of effective screening and separation techniques, they urged countries to stop the recycling of articles containing POP-BDEs.

For PFOS the committee 'highly recommended to withdraw/cease open applications (impregnated/surface modified paper, insecticides, chemically driven oil production, carpet, textile, leather, furniture, detergents), to identify and introduce alternatives in open applications under acceptable purposes (fire fighting foam and ant baits), noting that for a range of other applications in acceptable purposes, alternatives are used in developed countries and seem available in practices'.

Importantly, they recommended that safe storage should be ensured when destruction technologies are not available. Other recommendations included monitoring worker exposure at production and industrial use facilities, assessing the toxicity and ecotoxicity of the alternatives to PFOS, to identify and not use PFOS containing stocks (fire fighting foams, carpets and others), collect and store existing stocks), raise awareness on environmental and human health effects of PFOS and provide training on how to handle the collection, storage and disposal among the relevant professionals.

"Unfortunately, SCCPs did not progress to the risk management evaluation but neither were they set aside. SCCPS will be included as a case study for toxic interactions, with a drafting group established to revise the draft risk profile for consideration at the next meeting. While we are disappointed they did not go ahead to the next stage, at least these persistent endocrine disruptors were not set aside." said Lloyd-Smith.

POPRC 6 Documents:

Quick Guide to IPEN Views on POPRC6 October 2010
Adobe .pdf 176KB.

Endosulfan in Brief by PAN and IPEN
Adobe .pdf 108KB.

Media Release Endosulfan Ban Recommended The POPs Review Committee (POPRC), met in Geneva 11-15th October and voted (24 out of 29 committee members) for the risk management evaluation of endosulfan to be forwarded to the Stockholm Convention COP in May next year. They recommended an international ban with some limited 5 year specific exemptions (to allow for phase out.) "We are delighted with this decision and look forward to a global ban on his toxic and persistent chemical", said Dr Lloyd Smith, IPEN CoChair India refused to participate objecting in principle to the assessment of endosulfan. As well the committee accepted the risk profile for hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), a chemical used in construction materials and it passed to the next stage of assessment. "In the program of work for new POPs, the POPRC made a number of important recommendations to the COP", said Lloyd-Smith These included the separation of the POP-BDE-containing articles (eg electronic waste, mattresses) before recycling as soon as possible, acknowledging that 'failure to do so will inevitably result in wider human and environmental contamination and the dispersal of POP-BDE into matrices from which recovery is not technically or economically feasible and in loss of long term credibility of recycling' The committee also recommended that countries in a position to do so, especially in developed countries, urgently establish and apply screening techniques and separation of materials containing POP-BDE in order to stop the recycling of these materials and to safely store indicative POP-BDE-containing materials and/or articles when screening and separation techniques are not readily available. They recommended that countries not landfill articles with new POPs like PFOS and POP-BDEs. As well the committee recommended to stop the export of waste materials containing POP-BDE except for the purpose of environmentally sound disposal and to establish national control schemes for recycling of waste potentially containing POP-BDE with rapid implementation of effective screening and separation techniques for POP-BDE containing materials. Following the implementation of effective screening and separation techniques, they urged countries to stop the recycling of articles containing POP-BDEs. For PFOS the committee 'highly recommended to withdraw/cease open applications (impregnated/surface modified paper, insecticides, chemically driven oil production, carpet, textile, leather, furniture, detergents), to identify and introduce alternatives in open applications under acceptable purposes (fire fighting foam and ant baits), noting that for a range of other applications in acceptable purposes, alternatives are used in developed countries and seem available in practices ' Importantly, they recommended that safe storage should be ensured when destruction technologies are not available. Other recommendations included monitoring worker exposure at production and industrial use facilities, assessing the toxicity and ecotoxicity of the alternatives to PFOS, to identify and not use PFOS containing stocks (fire fighting foams, carpets and others), collect and store existing stocks), raise awareness on environmental and human health effects of PFOS and provide training on how to handle the collection, storage and disposal among the relevant professionals. "Unfortunately, SCCPs did not progress to the risk management evaluation but neither were they set aside. SCCPS will be included as a case study for toxic interactions, with a drafting group established to revise the draft risk profile for consideration at the next meeting. While we are disappointed they did not go ahead to the next stage, at least these persistent endocrine disruptors were not set aside." said Lloyd-Smith.

 

  Version: October 2010