oh goodie..i can still get my POP's in mexico then....yum..

[Guest guest]

Bush administration decides against making it easier to eliminate more toxic

chemicals

 

Thursday, April 11, 2002

By John Heilprin, Associated Press

 

WASHINGTON — President Bush plans to ask Congress to support a global treaty

phasing out a dozen of the world's most highly toxic chemicals but won't back a

provision making it easier to eliminate more toxins, administration officials

said Wednesday.

An announcement was scheduled for Thursday by EPA Administrator Christie Whitman

and Acting Assistant Secretary of State Anthony F. Rock, whose agencies drafted

the proposed legislation.

 

It comes nearly a year after Bush held a Rose Garden ceremony in advance of

Earth Day to announce he would sign and ask the Senate to ratify a Clinton-era

treaty on persistent organic pollutants, or POPs.

 

Bush's originally supported a treaty provision calling for expanding the list of

chemicals that would be covered. But administration officials, speaking on

condition of anonymity, said that would now be left for lawmakers to decide.

" The intention is to work with the Congress on the process of adding additional

chemicals, " said one official.

 

Environmental groups have been nervously awaiting the administration's official

request for the Senate to ratify and for Congress to implement the treaty, which

takes aim at the chemicals widely referred to as the " dirty dozen. " That group

includes PCBs, dioxins, and furans along with DDT and other pesticides shown to

contribute to developmental defects, cancer, and other problems in humans and

animals.

 

But since most of the pollutants no longer are used in industrial countries such

as the United States, environmentalists said dropping the provision for

eliminating future chemicals and leaving it up to Congress ignores some of the

most important protections under the treaty. " It's unfortunate that the Bush

administration is undermining one of the very few environmental protections that

they've supported, " said Jeremiah Baumann, environmental health specialist for

U.S. PIRG, an advocacy group. " They are omitting one of the most important

pieces of this international treaty that would protect human health from dozens

of harmful chemicals on the market. "

 

Even if the add-on provision were included, enlarging the list of chemicals to

be banned would still require rigorous scientific review.

 

A year has gone by since, flanked by Whitman and Secretary of State Colin

Powell, Bush said at a ceremony that the United States " must work to eliminate

or at least severely restrict the release of these toxins without delay. "

 

" The risks are great and the need for action is clear, " Bush said.

 

Many of the dozen pollutants in the treaty remain popular in developing

countries even though they break down slowly, travel long distances in the

environment, and have been linked to cancer and birth defects. Traces have been

found in the Arctic, transported by air currents from hundreds of miles away.

 

Under the treaty, production and use of 9 of the 12 chemicals would be banned as

soon as the treaty takes effect, which would take at least several years. About

25 countries would be allowed to continue to use DDT to combat malaria in

accordance with World Health Organization guidelines, pending development of

safer solutions.

 

Releases of dioxins and furans — toxic byproducts of waste burning and

industrial production — would be reduced and eventually eliminated where

feasible, according to the treaty. Other chemicals on the list are

polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the pesticides aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin,

endrin, heptachlor, mirex, toxaphene, and hexachlorobenzene.

 

The treaty also establishes an international fund of perhaps up to $150 million

to help countries develop and use substitutes for the " dirty dozen " chemicals.

And it allows for an expansion of the number of chemicals to be covered,

although adding to the list would require rigorous scientific review.

 

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants must be ratified by 50

countries to take effect. Whitman signed it on behalf of the United States on

May 23.