Stockholm Convention

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Stockholm Convention

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international legally binding agreement on persistent organic pollutants

Persistent organic pollutant

Persistent organic pollutants are organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation through chemical decomposition, biodegradation, and photolysis processes....
(POPs).

In 1995, the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) called for global action to be taken on POPs, which it defined as “chemical substances that persist in the environment, bio-accumulate through the food web, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment”.

Following this, the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS) and the International Programme for Chemical Safety (IPCS) prepared an assessment of the 12 worst offenders.

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Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international legally binding agreement on persistent organic pollutants

Persistent organic pollutant

Aldrin

Aldrin is an organochlorine compound insecticide which is redox in the insect to form dieldrin, a neurotoxin. Aldrin was formerly used to kill soil insects such as termites and grasshoppers to protect crops such as corn and potatoes....
, chlordane

Chlordane

Chlordane is a manufactured chemical that was used as a pesticide in the United States from 1948 to 1988. It does not occur naturally in the environment....
, DDT

DDT

DDT is one of the best known synthetic pesticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history.First synthesized in 1874, DDT's insecticidal properties were not discovered until 1939....
, dieldrin

Dieldrin

Dieldrin is a chlorinated hydrocarbon originally produced in 1948 by J. Hyman & Co, Denver, as an insecticide. The molecule has a ring structure based on naphthalene....
, endrin

Endrin

Endrin is a cyclodiene insecticide used on cotton, maize, and rice. It also acts as an avicide. As a rodenticide, it is used to control mouse and voles....
, heptachlor

Heptachlor

Heptachlor is an insecticide that usually comes in the form of a white or tan powder, the tan powder being of lower purity. It is similar to insecticide chlordane....
, mirex

Mirex

Mirex has been listed as persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic pollutants target by EPA. It is a manufactured insecticide which is white crystalline odorless solid....
and toxaphene

Toxaphene

Toxaphene is a mixture of approximately 200 organic compounds, formed by the chlorination of camphene to an overall chlorine content of 67-69 % by weight....
; two industrial chemicals: hexachlorobenzene

Hexachlorobenzene

Hexachlorobenzene, or perchlorobenzene, is a chlorinated hydrocarbon with the molecular formula C6Cl6. It is a fungicide formerly used as a seed treatment, especially on wheat to control the fungal disease karnal bunt....
(HCB) and the polychlorinated biphenyl

Polychlorinated biphenyl

Polychlorinated biphenyls are a class of organic compounds with 1 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings each containing six carbon atoms....
(PCB) group; and two groups of industrial by-products: dioxins and furans

Dibenzofuran

Dibenzofuran, is a heterocyclic organic compound with the chemical structure shown at right. It is an aromatic compound that has two benzene rings fused to one furan ring in the middle....
.

The negotiations for the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants were completed on May 23rd 2001 in Stockholm, Sweden. The convention entered into force on May 17th, 2004 with ratification by an initial 128 parties and 151 signatories. Co-signatories agree to outlaw nine of the dirty dozen chemicals, limit the use of DDT to malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a Vector -borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in Tropics and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa....
control, and curtail inadvertent production of dioxins and furans. Parties to the convention have agreed to a process by which persistent toxic compounds can be reviewed and added to the convention, if they meet certain criteria for persistence and transboundary threat.

Although some critics have alleged that the treaty is responsible for the continuing death toll from malaria, in reality the treaty specifically permits the public health use of DDT for the control of mosquito

Mosquito

Mosquitoes are common flying insects in the family Culicidae that are found around the world. There are about 3,500 species. They have a pair of scaled wings, a pair of halteres, a slender body, and six long legs....
es (the malaria vector

Vector (biology)

In epidemiology, a vector is an organism that does not cause disease itself but that transmits infection by conveying pathogens from one Host to another, serving as a transmission ....
). From a developing country perspective, a lack of data and information about the sources, releases, and environmental levels of POPs, hampers negotiations on specific compounds, and indicates a strong need for research.

Several other substances are being considered for inclusion in the Convention. These are: hexabromobiphenyl, octaBDE, pentaBDE, pentachlorobenzene, short-chained chlorinated paraffins

Chlorinated paraffins

Chlorinated paraffins are a complex mixture of polychlorinated alkane and were introduced in the 1930s. The chlorination degree of CPs can vary between 30 and 70%....
, lindane

Lindane

Lindane, also known as gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane, , benzene hexachloride , gammaxene and Gammallin, is an organochlorine chemical that has been used both as an agricultural insecticide and as a pharmaceutical treatment for headlice and scabies....
, a- and ß-hexachlorocyclohexane, dicofol

Dicofol

Dicofol is an organochlorine pesticide that is chemically related to DDT. Dicofol is a miticide that is very effective against red spider mite....
, endosulfan

Endosulfan

Endosulfan is a organochlorine insecticide and acaricide. It is an endocrine disruptor and is highly acutely toxic. Banned in more than 50 countries, including the European Union and several Asian and West African nations, it is still used extensively in many other countries including India, Brazil, and Australia....
, chlordecone and PFOS.

Stockholm Convention

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