Toxic chemical treaty in sight despite EU-U.S. dispute

December 7, 2000
Web posted at: 2:47 PM EST (1947 GMT)

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- Global talks to ban or curb production of some of the world's most dangerous chemicals resumed in South Africa on Thursday with delegates confident of a deal despite a dispute between Europe and the United States.

The talks, under the auspices of the U.N. Environment Program, are the fifth round of global discussions on POPs and are expected to produce a treaty to be signed at a diplomatic conference scheduled for Stockholm next May.

But delegates from the U.S. and European Union were poised to lock horns on Thursday on the criteria to include other chemicals under the treaty in the future.

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"Sparks could really fly today between the U.S. and the EU," said one delegate who asked not to be identified.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), which include DDT and PCBs, have been linked to an array of adverse effects, including death, disease and birth defects among humans and animals.

They are used in a wide range of industrial and farming activities, from pesticides to kill crop-eating insects to paint additives.

Highly stable compounds, they can last for years or decades before breaking down and circle the globe in air and water through a process scientists dub the "grasshopper effect."

Because of this, conservationists say POPs have had a devastating impact on human and wildlife populations worldwide, even in pristine Arctic and Antarctic habitats thousands of miles from the original source.

EU wants to add protective measures

The European Union wants to insert a "precautionary" clause into the treaty stipulating that where there is scientific evidence that a chemical threatens wildlife, human health or the environment, protective measures should be taken, even in the absence of full scientific certainty.

The United States says it feels the draft treaty is already flexible on this score and does not see how the EU wording would add to the treaty.

"We hope to discuss criteria for the inclusion of new chemicals today and that could be a bridge that brings us to discussion of the precautionary issue," John Buccini, a Canadian civil servant chairing the talks, told Reuters.

Michael Williams, spokesman for the U.N. Development Program, said the agency did not expect the dispute to be a deal breaker.

"I am confident that we will have a binding agreement at the end of the talks," Williams told Reuters.

Delegates on Thursday are also expected to discuss financial mechanisms to help developing countries make the transition from POPs-based technology.

Several of the 12 POPs under discussion are no longer produced or have no wide use in the developed world. But many poorer countries still depend on them for a range of activities from spraying crops to use in electrical transformers.

One U.N. official told Reuters that the cost of bringing the developing world into line with the treaty could be $100 million to $200 million a year over a period of two decades or more.

No firm figures are available on the cost to industry, but the official said it could run into billions of dollars.

The talks in Johannesburg started on Monday and are expected to wrap up on Saturday.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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United Nations Environment Program
United Nations Development Program
European Union

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