Plastics and plastic chemicals are increasingly produced and traded across the world. With increasingly complex toxic cargos and frequently reported shipping accidents, a global concern has emerged around the impacts that plastics may have on marine environments.
The Case for Public Participation in Multilateral Environmental Governance Forums
Public participation in decisions that affect human health and the environment is essential in a democracy, as this is crucial to ensure individuals’ right to engage in decision-making processes that impact their lives at local, national, and global levels.
Call for action triggered by the discovery of more mercury-laden cosmetics being sold online
Monday, 27 January 2025
Quezon City. Environmental health groups advocating for the protection of people’s health and the environment from mercury-containing cosmetics today urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Government of Thailand to take bold measures to halt the export of skin lightening products containing this highly toxic chemical.
Actions proposed to advance the Global Framework on Chemicals
Thursday, 23 January 2025
Quezon City. As the sale of luck activators thrives ahead of the Chinese New Year, the EcoWaste Coalition, an advocacy group for a zero waste and toxics-free society, expressed concern over the proliferation of lucky charm bracelets with high-cadmium Pi Yao (aka Pi Xiu) and other auspicious symbols.
Watchdog group finds mercury in “intensive whitening” cream from Thailand)
Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Quezon City-Despite the global ban, the EcoWaste Coalition continues to uncover the illegal use of mercury in unauthorized imported products for lightening the skin tone and for removing age spots, dark marks, freckles, wrinkles and other dermal problems.
Quezon City. As the nation steps into the New Year, the watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition again cautioned consumers seeking a lighter skin tone from using unauthorized products containing high levels of mercury, a chemical poison that poses toxic effects on the nervous, digestive and endocrine systems, and on the kidneys, lungs, and the skin itself.
Quezon City - The toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition cautioned consumers against the purchase and use of three baby-related products (a baby bed sheet, a baby swimming float and a baby supplies bag), which are laden with phthalates way above the legal limit set for such chemical compounds in toys and childcare articles.
Health risks from toxic farm chemicals paraquat, chlorpyrifos, and phorate prompt immediate nationwide ban as global community calls for phasing out all HHPs by 2035
Saturday, 07 December 2024
Kathmandu, Nepal - The Center for Public Health and Environmental Development (CEPHED) and the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) welcome the decision by the government of Nepal last week to ban three highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) long linked to serious health and environmental concerns. The production, sale, use, and trade of three farm chemicals, chlorpyrifos, phorate, and paraquat is banned immediately, according to the decision by the country’s Pesticide Management Committee.
The Nepali decision follows the September 2023 founding of the Global Framework on Chemicals (GFC), which initiated a collaborative Global Alliance on HHPs, with a goal of phasing out all HHPs by 2035. The health risks of the three pesticides banned by Nepal are indicative of the risks from HHPs:
“We have long worked to document the health and environmental threats from these harmful farm chemicals, so we fully support and applaud the decision to protect public health and the environment with this strong regulation,” said Ram Charitra Sah, Executive Director and Environmental Scientist at CEPHED. “By banning these chemicals, Nepal is leading the global community and fulfilling our national obligation toward the realization of the new GFC policy on HHPs and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). We expect prompt and assertive implementation of this ban throughout Nepal.”
Lia Giraldo da Silva Augusto – Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva (ABRASCO) / Nadia Spada Fiori – Departamento de Medicina Social, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel)
Os agrotóxicos são substancias químicas usadas para o controle de insetos, fungos e plantas considerados indesejados na agricultura ou dentro de nossas próprias casas. Entretanto, além de causarem a morte destes organismos vivos, também causam sérios problemas a saúde das pessoas.
