Row over hazardous pesticides at Rome Conference

[Guest guest]

Row over hazardous pesticides at Rome Conference

 

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/row-over-hazardous-pesticides-at-rome-conference/380604/0 ASHOK B SHARMAPosted: Nov 03, 2008 at 0054 hrs ISTUpdated: Nov 03, 2008 at 0054 hrs IST

 

The Fourth Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Rotterdam Convention at the FAO headquarters in Rome last week brought to the fore the row over placing two pesticides and the industrial chemical chrysotile asbestos on the trade watch list that already contains 39 hazardous substances.

 

The trade watch list, according to the convention, is not a recommendation for a ban on the product. The substances included in the list are subject to the prior informed consent (PIC), designed to make the exporting country responsible for ensuring that no exports leave its territory when an importing country has made the decision not to accept the chemicals.

 

The technical committee of experts had recommended endosulfan and tributyl tin compounds and industrial chemical chrysotile on the trade watch list. The Fourth Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Rotterdam Convention, which began in Rome on October 27, took up the discussion on this issue. About five countries, including Canada, India and Ukraine, opposed the move to place these hazardous substances on the trade watch list at the convention of over 120 nations.

 

Tributyl tin (TBT) compounds are pesticides used in anti-fouling paints for ship hulls and are toxic to fish, molluscs and other aquatic organisms.

 

The International Maritime Organization has moved to ban the use of anti-fouling paints containing TBT compounds. Endosulfan is a pesticide widely used around the world, particularly in cotton production. It is hazardous to the environment and detrimental to human health, particularly in those developing countries where adequate safeguards do not exist.

 

 

Chrysotile asbestos is the most commonly used form of asbestos, accounting for around 94% of global asbestos production. It is widely used in building materials, such as asbestos cement, pipe and sheet, and in the manufacture of friction products, gaskets and paper.

 

"It is the highest form of hypocrisy for Canada to work behind the scenes with a handful of countries to prevent citizens of the majority of Rotterdam Convention members to be informed about the hazards of chrysotile asbestos, when we virtually no longer use it in Canada because it is so extremely hazardous", said Kathleen Ruff coordinator of the Rotterdam Convention Alliance (ROCA).

 

According to Ruff, Canada spends millions of dollars promoting the sale of chrysotile asbestos in poor countries. However, if it were the other way around, Canada would not accept it. Even now the Canadian government wishes to strictly control the import of hazardous chemicals into Canada.

 

Despite the years of credible work by the international scientific community and the rigorous work of all UN agencies, few countries opposing the move to place the three hazardous substances on the trade watch list distributed brochures at the Rotterdam Convention, entitled - "Chrysotile Asbestos Saves Lives". According to Professor Soskolne of the University of Alberta, "The data presented would never make it into a serious scientific journal, the methodologies are not transparent, and a lot of the information is false."

 

Some 70,000 chemicals are available in the global market and around 1,500 new ones are introduced every year. This can pose a major challenge to regulators charged with monitoring and managing these potentially dangerous substances

Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now.