Nations Agree to Ban Toxic Plastic Chemicals but Take Unprecedented Action Putting Health and the Environment at Risk
Geneva-Today, the Stockholm Convention Conference of Parties (COP) agreed that the large group of toxic industrial chemicals known as medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs) are among the world’s most hazardous substances (known as persistent organic pollutants or POPs) and should be listed for global elimination. MCCPs are among the highest production volume chemicals in the world and are used widely in plastics, including in toys, flooring, kitchenware, and other products, and in metal working fluids.
IPEN welcomes the decision to ban the large chemical group of MCCPs but warns that the long list of exemptions will perpetuate harm and result in large volumes of hazardous wastes to be produced for decades to come.
Unfortunately, the COP also for the first time in its history reopened a previous decision, allowing new exemptions on its 2023 ban of a highly toxic substance, the plastic chemical UV-328. The COP’s decision caves to industry influence, disregards its mission and precedents, and favors the interests of industry over its stated objective of protecting human health and the environment.
IPEN strongly criticized the COP’s decision to allow new exemptions to its 2023 ban on UV-328. This unprecedented action will allow ongoing pollution and global contamination by this chemical that in animal studies has been linked to damage to the liver and kidneys, endocrine disruption, and bioaccumulation.
“The chemicals governed by the Convention are the most hazardous substances on the planet – once the science has demonstrated that they pose unacceptable threats to our health and the environment, the decision to eliminate them should not be revised. By allowing new exemptions for a previously banned substance, the COP is jeopardizing the integrity of the Convention, undermining its scientific basis, and betraying its mission to protect human health and the environment,” said IPEN Science Advisor Therese Karlsson, Ph.D.
Despite recent data highlighting the need to expand the protections against UV-328 and similar UV stabilizers, Parties to the Convention caved to industry interests in deciding to weaken the protections agreed upon in 2023. The decision followed a request by the aerospace industry for continued use of the toxic chemical. Parties agreed to re-open the previous decision to add new exemptions, an unprecedented act in the history of the convention. Not only were the proposed new exemptions granted, but the COP even went further: in a closed-door session, the COP went beyond the industry proposal, and without any substantive, documented explanation or evidence, allowed additional uses for UV-328 in coatings, that could increase its use by 200 times more than what the industry originally requested
In allowing new exemptions, the COP noted the unique nature of this situation and urged Parties to refrain from using the amendment procedure to add new exemptions to already listed substances. They also reiterated the importance of a precautionary approach and the objective of the Convention to protect human health and the environment, even while deciding to contradict that approach and those aims.
IPEN also warned about the large list of exemptions granted for the listing of MCCPs, noting that continued uses will be especially concerning as MCCPS are already measured in high concentrations in the environment, including in remote locations such as the Arctic and Antarctica. IPEN also welcomed the clarity provided regarding chemical identity in the listing and the note encouraging traceability but urged that it will be crucial for Parties to ensure that traceability is ensured during export, given the long list of exemptions.
“MCCPs pollute the global environment, contaminate breast milk of women throughout the world, and pose dire health threats,” said Pamela Miller, IPEN Global Co-chair, from talks in Geneva. “The time is long overdue to end the production and use of these harmful chemicals. It is extremely disappointing that many exemptions have been allowed for MCCPs, given that there are safer alternatives for every use. We urge Parties to eliminate all uses of MCCPs and prevent the use of hazardous substitutes that pose similar threats to our health and healthy environments.”
On a positive note, the Stockholm Convention COP adopted new guidelines for cleaning up POP contaminated sites. Following nine years of development, and co-drafted by IPEN Advisors, the Stockholm Convention Guidance on best available techniques and best environmental practices (BAT BEP) for the management of sites contaminated with persistent organic pollutants was welcomed at the Plenary session of the COP.
Guidance co-author and IPEN Technical and Policy Advisor Lee Bell said, “It was a significant undertaking and the first comprehensive global guidance on POP contaminated site identification and clean up in decades. This major gap has finally been filled more than 20 years after the convention came into effect. It provides advice on establishing frameworks for technical, policy, legal, and social engagement aspects of contaminated sites to assist developing countries to tackle this enormous problem while opening the door to funding cleanups projects using state of the art non-combustion technologies. Implementation of this guidance will save lives and create a healthier environment.”
The guidance will support millions of people in providing improved protections from the toxic impacts caused by hundreds of thousands of POP contaminated sites around the globe. With the guidance, sites can be identified, isolated, and cleaned up, preventing direct exposure to people and avoiding indirect exposure from food chain contamination caused by POPs. A key feature of the guidance is detailed techniques for sustainable remediation moving beyond old dig and dump methods or burning waste that spreads POP contamination through emissions and residues.
Bell said “These new wave technologies degrade and destroy POPs including PFAS without generating more POPs in their emissions and waste streams. This is a major leap forward from burning contaminated soils in old, polluting technology such as incinerators and cement kilns that release even more POPs when treating POP contaminated soils, sediment and wastes.”
Many experts on the Stockholm BAT BEP Expert Group contributed their views on the guidance which was drafted by group members Lee Bell and Boudewijn Fokke. The document is available here.
Background Notes
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, adopted in 2001, is an international agreement by the nations of the world to address global chemical pollution. Its objective is to protect human health and the environment from the world's most hazardous substances.
The Convention aims to eliminate the production, use and emissions of POPs while preventing the introduction of new chemicals with POP-like characteristics and ensuring the environmentally sound destruction of POPs waste stockpiles. The Convention sets out the actions that country Parties must take to achieve this. It also requires country Parties to reduce and, where feasible, eliminate releases of byproduct POPs chemicals
Background on UV-328
UV-328 is a plastic chemical that has been used in hundreds of consumer products, including coating products, adhesives and sealants, food contact materials, and other plastics. Following a thorough scientific review and a recommendation from its expert committee, in 2023, Parties to the Stockholm Convention agreed to list UV-328 for global elimination because it is a persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemical. The evaluation process showed that it is transported over large distances to remote locations, including but not limited to in marine litter. UV-328 can cause adverse effects to internal organs and research has also highlighted that it acts as an endocrine disruptor.
References
https://ipen.org/documents/plastic-pellets-found-beaches-all-over-world-contain-toxic-chemicals
https://ipen.org/documents/uv-328-research-update
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/emcr/1/0/1_20210009/_pdf/-char/ja
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/emcr/5/0/5_20240027/_article/-char/ja/