Geneva, Switzerland IPEN members from around the world are gathering in Geneva, Switzerland from June 6 to 17 at the meetings of the global Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions. IPEN is an official observer group at the meetings, with a role of educating delegates and contributing to the Convention talks to promote the need for stronger protections for our health and the environment. The talks will cover a wide range of issues, from toxic chemicals in plastics to the need for stronger protections from hazardous wastes.
The aim of the Stockholm Convention is to protect human health and the environment from Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Parties to the Convention have therefore committed to take precautionary action on POPs, recognizing that they are toxic, resist degradation, and bioaccumulate, and that they are transported across international boundaries and deposited far from where they are released. Impacts on indigenous communities, women, and future generations are acknowledged in the Treaty as of special concern.
A child eating one egg from near an E-waste recycling site in Ghana is exposed to more dioxins than the tolerable limit for 5 years
Wednesday, 01 June 2022
A new review of data from Asia, Africa, Europe, and North and South America has found that cancer-causing dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), unintentionally produced chemicals regulated in developed countries since the 1990s and internationally since 2004, continue to poison the food supply, at concentrations that pose serious health threats.
Quezon City, Philippines Organizations around the world have joined forces to call for a global ban on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) ahead of the World Environment Day. Also known as the “forever chemicals,” PFAS do not break down in the environment and build up in the bodies of humans and wildlife over time, resulting in adverse health effects.
From June 6-17, IPEN members will participate in the Meetings of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions taking place in Geneva, Switzerland. Check this page for updates throughout the meetings.
POPs waste is defined, according Article 6 of the Stockholm Convention, by setting Low POPs Content Levels (LPCLs). This establishes an important kind of “limit value” because POPs waste should be treated such that POPs are either destroyed or irreversibly transformed. They cannot be landfilled, reused, or recycled, because POPs content in that waste would also be recycled and thus would not stop this chemical pollution from entering the environment.
Parties to the Stockholm and Basel Conventions have an opportunity to prevent toxic recycling through the substantial strengthening of limit values for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in waste, known as Low POPs Content Levels. Establishing strong limit values for POPs in waste today will significantly promote the future of a toxic-free circular economy, because it will promote innovation in recycling, increase the pressure on industrial designers to remove POPs from products, and ensure that the circular economy is not poisoned in its infancy.
Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) in Consumer Products Made of Recycled Plastic from Eleven Arabic and African Countries
Both the environment in Africa and the Arabic region and the human health of Africans and people from Arabic countries suffer from toxic chemicals and imported wastes, including illegal wastes, more than in developed countries.
