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Highlights Front Roll

New Report: The Arctic’s Plastic Crisis
Plastics Treaty INC-4
New Report: Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Threats to Human Health
6th United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA-6)
Chemical Recycling: A Dangerous Deception
See StopPoisonPlastic.org - our website on toxic plastics
Video: Plastics Poisoning Our Health

IPEN Steering Committee Member Yuyun Ismawati was prominently featured in this New York Times article:

January 2, 2014

(Photo by Kemal Jufri for the NY Times)

Small-Scale Gold Mining Pollutes Indonesian Lands

By JOE COCHRANE

CISITU, Indonesia — In the remote mountains of West Java, workers like 15-year-old David Mario Chandra are an integral part of Indonesia’s gold industry.

IPEN members have participated as observers in the work of the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Review Committee (POPRC) since its inception. The POPRC is a subsidiary body to the Stockholm Convention established for reviewing chemicals proposed for listing in Annex A, B, and/or C.

 

Global Report Finds High Levels of Lead in Paint

Cover of Lead Global Report

A new 2013 report from IPEN and UNEP documents high levels of lead in paint in nine countries. IPEN Participating Organizations in Argentina, Azerbaijan, Chile, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia, and Uruguay collected paint samples for total lead content testing. With the exception of ten samples from the Ivory Coast, all of the paints purchased and tested were enamel decorative paints. See the results in the Global Report Annex 1 (below).

The release of this report coincided with the International Lead Poisoning Prevention week of action, 20 - 26 October. Please read about IPEN activities during the week HERE.

Global Report: Lead in Enamel Decorative Paints

Executive Summary of the Report (in all six UN languages)

Annex 1: Country by Country Data

IPEN Press Release | UNEP Press Release

 

Joe DiGangi

Agrees to incorporate climate change impacts in toxic chemical evaluation

Rome, Italy — A UN expert committee recommended global action on pentachlorophenol – a pesticide used for wood treatment including utility poles. The Committee justified its recommendation for the Stockholm Convention due to pentachlorophenol’s persistence, bioaccumulation, long-range transport, and its toxic impacts. Governments around the world will decide on the recommendation in 2015.

IPEN recently concluded its activities at the Mercury Treaty Diplomatic Conference in Kumamoto, Japan, which included side events and a press conference. For information about IPEN's work in Japan, see our "DipCon" page.

For Immediate Release:

Kumamoto, Japan — The signing of the world’s first international mercury treaty by delegates from more than 100 countries should spur three key actions to reduce total mercury pollution, the International NGO IPEN said.

“The mercury treaty is a victory because it represents a global consensus that mercury pollution presents a serious threat to human health and the environment. Now we need to get to work,” said Joe DiGangi, IPEN’s Senior Science and Technical Adviser. “Some treaty provisions are legally-binding obligations and others require governments to “endeavor” to take action. This means that each government has a moral, if not a legal commitment to fully implement all treaty provisions.”

For Immediate Release:

Kumamoto, Japan — The world’s first international mercury treaty should address mercury in artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) by applying the lessons from the Minamata tragedy, the International NGO IPEN said today.

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