Participation in Treaties - Stockholm Convention on Persistant Organic Pollutants

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemical substances that persist in the environment, bioaccumulate through the food web, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment. With the evidence of long-range transport of these substances to regions where they have never been used or produced and the consequent threats they pose to the environment of the whole globe, the international community has now, at several occasions called for urgent global actions to reduce and eliminate releases of these chemicals.

The chemicals slated for elimination under the Stockholm Convention are the pesticides aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), mirex and toxaphene, as well as the industrial chemical polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Continued use of the pesticide DDT is allowed for disease vector control until safe, affordable and effective alternatives are in place. Countries must make determined efforts to indentify label and remove PCB-containing equipment from use by 2025. The Convention also seeks the continuing minimization and, where feasible, elimination of the releases of unintentionally produced POPs such as the industrial byproducts dioxins and furans.