Rome - Representatives from over 120 governments are
scheduled to meet in Rome next week to decide whether to add two
pesticides and an industrial chemical to an international list of
potentially hazardous substances, the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Wednesday.
Under review are endosulfan, a pesticide used in cotton
production, and tributyl tin compounds, used as antifouling paint for
ship hulls, as well as the chrysotile asbestos chemical which is
widely used by the building industry, FAO said.
Inclusion of substances in the so-called Prior Informed Consent
(PIC) list does not amount to a global ban or a severe restriction of
their use, but rather highlights the potential hazards they pose to
human health and the environment.
PIC procedures, which fall under the international Rotterdam
Convention treaty, gives co-signatories from developing countries the
power to decide which of these chemicals they wish to receive and to
exclude those they cannot manage safely, FAO said.
Moreover, countries that manufacture such products are responsible
for ensuring that no exports leave their territory when an importing
country has made the decision not to accept the chemical substances.
Chemicals are proposed for inclusion on the list based on the
recommendation of a technical panel of experts. A key requirement is
that at least two countries from two different regions of the world
must have banned or severely restricted the particular chemical.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted a resolution
in 2006 calling for the elimination of all uses of chrysotile
asbestos.
The resolution reflected the World Health Organization's findings
that the chemical is associated with many thousands of deaths
worldwide from lung cancer and mesothelomia, a rare form of cancer
directly linked to asbestos.
A number of countries, including some that continue to mine and
export chrysotile asbestos, blocked its addition to the PIC list when
the parties to the Convention last met in 2006.
'As a result the chemical will be reconsidered at next week's
meeting in Rome and 'further opposition is anticipated,' FAO said in
a statement.
Some 70,000 chemicals are currently available on the market, and
around 1,500 new ones are introduced every year, FAO said.
'This can pose a major challenge to regulators charged with
monitoring and managing these potentially dangerous substances. Many
pesticides that have been banned or whose use has been severely
restricted in industrialized countries are still marketed and used
unsafely in developing countries,' it added.
The conference runs from October 27-31 FAO's Rome headquarters.
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