POPs

90 nations sign on to deal banning ``dirty dozen'' of toxins

Kim Gamel / AP 23may01

STOCKHOLM, Sweden  -- Environmental delegates from 90 countries, including the United States, signed a global treaty Wednesday banning 12 highly toxic chemicals, including PCBs and dioxins.

Production and use of the set of toxins, widely known as the "dirty dozen," would be banned under the deal, which was reached in December in South Africa after nearly two years of sometimes tense negotiations.

Tuesday afternoon, the pact was adopted by consensus by 127 countries, and Wednesday morning delegates from 90 nations signed the deal. The rest have up to a year to sign. The treaty goes into effect once 50 nations have ratified it.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman promised the United States would move fast to seek ratification.

"We intend to work expeditiously to submit this treaty to the United States Senate and to send the implementing measures to the Congress," she said.

The United States has been heavily criticized for its environmental policies after President Bush rejected the 1997 Kyoto global warming treaty, saying the mandatory pollution reductions would harm American economic interests.

The "dirty dozen" treaty is aimed at eventually eliminating all hazardous chemicals but lists 12 persistent organic pollutants, or POPs, for priority action. Among them are PCBs and dioxins, DDT and other pesticides shown to contribute to birth defects, cancer and other problems in humans and animals.

The ratification process usually takes four or five years, but many delegates were hopeful that it could be ready by a 2002 U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, to mark the 10th anniversary of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

"The first big step was taken toward an environment free of toxic substances," German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin said. "I call on all the signing countries to ratify it equally quickly."

Most of the chemicals covered in the treaty no longer are used in industrial countries like the United States or Sweden, but they remain popular in developing nations.

The toxins break down slowly and travel easily in the environment, with traces of many of them found in pristine areas of the Arctic after having been transported by air currents.

About 25 countries would be allowed to use DDT to combat malaria in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines until they can develop safer solutions.

Delegates also stressed the importance of contributions from wealthy countries to an international fund to help developing countries offset the costs of using cleaner alternatives and the possibility for expanding the number of chemicals to be covered.

Whitman said the United States has planned $3.5 million in contributions for this year.

• Conference site, www.chem.unep.ch/pops/