EN ROUTE: LESS COSTLY JOURNALS

Abstract

Representatives from about 120 countries met in Montreal last week to craft a new global agreement, one that would phase out production and use of 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This meeting, sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program, is the firstever effort aimed at controlling a group of man-made substances on a global basis. They are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorobenzene, dioxins, dibenzofurans, and eight pesticides: aldrin, chlordane, DDT and its metabolites, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, mirex, and toxaphane. Most of these are classified as endocrine disrupters and are known to bioaccumulate in animals, including humans, at the top of the food chain. Because POPs show up all over the world, a regional agreement on these chemicals is not sufficient, says Rafe Pomerance, the State Department's deputy assistant secretary for the environment. By far the most contentious issue the countries have to deal with is whether to call for a complete phaseout of the production a...