Lessons from Stockholm: Evaluating the Global Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

Abstract

On May 22, 2001, representatives from over 120 countries signed a new treaty in Stockholm, Sweden, regulating the "dirty dozen" persistent organic pollutants (POPs)—some of the most dangerous chemicals in the world. 1 POPs are hardy, toxic chemicals that persist in the environment, wreaking biological havoc in animals and people, to an extent not yet completely understood by scientists. The Stockholm Convention—the first global agreement to seek to ban an entire class of chemicals because of their effects on human health—calls for immediate or long-term elimination of twelve highly toxic chemicals, including PCBs, DDT, and dioxins. 2 This treaty promises to be one of the main environmental achievements in the decade following the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, articulating principles for a less toxic world, including release prevention, reduction of toxic stockpiles, use of less-dangerous substitutes, and the need for precaution in dealing with toxics generally. 3 The POPs Convention also takes a proactive approach to toxics management, focusing on elimination of pesticides and other POPs at their source, rather than through "end-of-the-pipe" controls frequently employed by other environmental statutes and treaties. Particularly remarkable is the broad support the treaty has enjoyed among governments, public health officials, environmentalists, and affected industries.