Background Information
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
Great lakes Water Quality Agreement
Registration, Evaluation & Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) Program

Background Information

Recent public policies around the world are increasingly focused on eliminating dioxin-generating products, not just emissions reduction.

• 151 nations have signed the Stockholm Treaty with the goal of eliminating dioxin and other persistent organic pollutants.
• The commission implementing theGreat Lakes Water Quality Agreementrecommends the US and Canada develop timetables to phase-out the use of chlorine containing compounds in industry.
• The European REACH program may restrict markets for Dow product lines.

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

The Stockholm Convention is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs).  In implementing the Convention, Governments will take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment.

The Stockholm Convention affirms that “national authorities should endeavour to promote the internalization of environmental costs and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter should bear the cost of pollution, with due regard to the public interest.”
(From http://www.pops.int/documents/convtext/convtext_en.pdf )

More information about the Stockholm Treaty can be obtained here

Great lakes Water Quality Agreement

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, first signed in 1972 and renewed in 1978, “expresses the commitment of the Governments of Canada and the United States to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem.” and that “The discharge of toxic substances in toxic amounts should be prohibited and the discharge of persistent toxic substances be virtually eliminated.”

The agreement asserts that concentrations of POPs in water or aquatic organisms should be “substantially absent”, i.e., less than detection levels as determined by the best scientific methodology available.

More information about the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement can be accessed here

The REACH Proposal

The goal of the EU chemicals policy REACH—Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restrictions of Chemicals —is to secure data on and appropriately regulate some 30,000 existing chemicals produced in excess of one ton for which there is limited information with regard to toxicity and environmental effects, according to the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialog’s June 2004 Briefing Paper on REACH.

Registration is required for old and new chemicals. Registration is mandatory before a chemical is marketed or in order for existing chemicals to stay on the market, and chemicals of greatest concern will be subject to formal authorization procedures much like pharmaceuticals.