Spacer

 

Google Translate

IPEN

A Toxics-Free Future

Donate

Donate

Highlights Front Roll

New Report: The Arctic’s Plastic Crisis

Arctics Report to SPP

Plastics Treaty INC-4

Plastics Treaty INC-4 to SPP

New Report: Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Threats to Human Health

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Threats to Human Health

6th United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA-6)

6th United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA-6)

Chemical Recycling: A Dangerous Deception

Chemical Recycling StopPoisonPlastic.org Link

See StopPoisonPlastic.org - our website on toxic plastics

StopPoisonPlastic.org Link

Video: Plastics Poisoning Our Health

Video: Plastics Poisoning Our Health

Basel Convention

EU promotes unprecedented policy for UN treaties that would increase waste dumping and allow toxic recycling of an industrial chemical into children’s toys

Saturday, 01 September 2018

(Göteborg, Sweden) The EU is advocating for hazardous waste limits under two UN treaties that could allow significant releases of a globally-banned chemical contaminate new products made of recycled plastic, and result in waste dumping in developing countries. Basel OEWG11 will tackle the issue 3 – 7 September in Geneva.

Read more

Roro Hills. Photo: Shweta Narayan.

Asbestos

Tribal Communities Score Asbestos Clean Up

Roro Hills, Jharkhand, India
Tuesday, 28 August 2018

Last week, India's National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered quick remediation of 25,000 cubic meters of asbestos waste in a towering pile in the village of Roro in the State of Jharkhand.  

The waste was left there 35 years ago by asbestos mining company Hindustan Industries Ltd. 

This big victory follows work that began in 2012, when ELAW partner Shweta Narayan traveled to the site to collect soil samples that documented dangerous levels of asbestos exposure. Even small amounts of asbestos can cause severe health problems, including lung cancer.

Read more
Lead in Paint

Study Shows Paints Imported into The Gambia Contain High Lead Content

(Paint Labeled “100% Lead Free” is the Highest)
Friday, 17 August 2018

(Banjul, The Gambia) More than 80 percent of the paint brands included in a study analyzing lead in solvent-based paints for home use in The Gambia sold one or more paint that contained dangerously high total lead content greater than 10,000 parts per million (ppm). The maximum allowed limit in e.g. Cameroon and Kenya is 90 ppm, which is also the recommended limit by UN Environment. Two yellow paints from the brands National and Oasis, both of which were imported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), contained the highest amount of lead at 100,000 ppm. Furthermore, two paints from the brand Oasis, manufactured by Al Gurg Paints LLC in UAE and advertised as “100% lead free,” contained 100,000 ppm and 65,000 ppm lead. These and other alarming findings are part of a report released today by the Young Volunteers for the Environment (YVE)-The Gambia and IPEN.

Read more
Mercury

Proposed QC Measure Banning Mercury-Laden Skin Whiteners Hurdled Committee Hearing

Wednesday, 15 August 2018

15 August 2018, Quezon City.  An ordinance that will protect consumers, especially women and girls, against skin lightening products contaminated with mercury has successfully hurdled the hearing by the Quezon City Council’s Committee on Health and Sanitation.

At the committee hearing held yesterday, August 14, the committee unanimously approved Proposed Ordinance 20CC-439 entitled “An Ordinance Banning the Manufacture, Distribution, and Sale of Mercury-Containing Skin Whitening Cosmetics in Quezon City.

The said ordinance was co-introduced by Councilors Elizabeth Delartmente, Diorella Maria Sotto-Antonio, Irene Belmonte, Kate Abigael Galang- Coseteng, Eufemio Lagumbay, Eric Medina and Marivic Co-Pilar.

Read more

Photo: Greenpeace Mexico

W-t-E Incineration

Greenpeace, IPEN, GAIA and Others Urged Interamerican Development Bank Not to Support Waste to Energy Plant in Mexico City

Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Several NGOs wrote a letter directed to the Executive Board of the Interamerican Development Bank and the InterAmerican Investment Corporation (BID Invest) to deter the approval of a $200 million dollar loan for a Termo AP Project this Tuesday.

The loan would support the building of a waste incinerator for the next 20 years in Mexico City, incinerating millions of tons of solid waste to produce energy. This project has been opposed by a wide range of NGOs in Mexico City, and the new elected city government has expressed strong opposition to this project. In this time of transition for the new elected government, which will be formally instated on December 5th, 2018, the letter is asking officials to reconsider the support of this project.

See description of the project here: https://www.iic.org/es/proyectos/project-disclosure/12105-01/proyecto-termo-app-de-la-ciudad-de-méxico-para-la-conversión 

The letter is available to read in Spanish here. 

Read more
IPEN Leadership

IPEN Welcomes Dr. Tadesse Amera as New Co-Chair of the Organization

Friday, 27 July 2018
Press Releases: 

(Göteborg, Sweden) Dr. Tadesse Amera, the distinguished environmental scientist and Director of Pesticide Action Nexus (PAN)-Ethiopia, has been elected as IPEN Co-Chair, the highest level in the global network. Dr. Amera will share chairing responsibilities with Co-Chair Pamela Miller of Alaska Community Action on Toxics. The network of over 500 public interest environmental health NGOs in more than 125 countries is united to eradicate the world’s most harmful substances for a toxics-free future for all. 

Best known for a pioneering agro-ecology initiative that models organic alternatives to eliminate highly hazardous pesticide use in cotton cultivation, Dr. Amera has advanced numerous environmental health initiatives at local, national and regional levels and leads health and environmental engagements in high-level international policy making fora.

Read more
Chemicals in Products

Press Release: High Levels of Toxic Substances in Children’s Toys in Nepal Affirm Need to Enforce Nepal National Standard

Sunday, 22 July 2018
Press Releases: 

Report Summary

(Gotebörg, Sweden) High levels of toxic substances have been found in over 60% of children’s toys tested in a recent analysis of toxic heavy metals and chemicals in toys on the market in Nepal. The study, released on the anniversary of the passage of Nepal’s 2017 regulatory standard on toxic substances in children’s products, a law that industry lobbyists are currently working to weaken, underscores the need for greater enforcement of the strong regulation. The study was conducted by CEPHED, a Nepalese public interest NGO, and IPEN, a global network of public interest health and environment NGOs.

Read more

Pages

Subscribe to IPEN RSS