UN treaty to ban 'dirty dozen' pollutants in developing world

The global control of hazardous chemicals came a step closer yesterday when more than 120 nations signed a treaty to phase out a dozen of the most toxic industrial substances.

The global control of hazardous chemicals came a step closer yesterday when more than 120 nations signed a treaty to phase out a dozen of the most toxic industrial substances.

The UN convention on persistent organic pollutants, or POPs, signed in Stockholm, will attempt to rid much of the world of such notorious chemicals as PCBs and DDT, which most Western countries have already banned.

But the 12 POPS specifically named in the treaty are still in use in some parts of the developing world, and an international fund to help poor countries phase them out is expected to be a feature of the agreement.

Production and use of most of the chemicals will be formally banned as soon as the treaty takes effect, following ratification by at least 50 countries ­ a process expected to take four to five years.

Britain, which played a significant role in negotiating the treaty, did not sign it yesterday because ministers were on election campaign duty, but the Government said it intends to sign it if re-elected.

The problem with POPS, found in everything from pesticides to paint, is not only that they can trigger cancers, damage immune systems and impair children's learning ability, but they are long-lasting, accumulate in the body tissue of animals and people, and are transported by air currents all over the world.

"They have even been found in the blood of Antarctic penguins and of Inuit people in Greenland," said the Swedish Prime Minister, Goran Persson, as he opened the conference yesterday. "POPs are a chemical time bomb."

The treaty also calls for reducing releases of dioxins and furans ­ toxic byproducts of waste burning and industrial production ­ "with the goal of their continuing minimisation and, where feasible, ultimate elimination".

The POPS in the treaty are: aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, dioxins, endrin, furans, heptachlor, HCB, mirex, polychlor- inated biphenyls and toxaphene.

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