US Absent From Global Toxics Conference - Chemical Engineering News

[hatrack]

"An international meeting this week will establish rules for identifying which chemicals are so bad for the environment that they should be severely restricted or banned worldwide. The conference in Punta del Este, Uruguay, is the first meeting of governments that are partners to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. That global treaty initially bans or tightly controls 12 chemicals or categories of substances, including DDT and dioxins.

The meeting has the attention of the U.S. chemical industry and environmental activists alike. But the representatives of the U.S. government, which has been a major player in international chemical management talks, will be sitting on the sidelines.

This is because Congress has failed to pass the implementing legislation required for the U.S. to become a partner to the Stockholm convention. The Bush Administration has signed and supports the accord. Yet because it is not a partner, the U.S. will have no vote at the Uruguay meeting and faces the possibility of being silenced in future Stockholm convention deliberations.

“The biggest issue looming for us is that the U.S. is not a party” to the Stockholm convention, says Michael P. Walls, managing director of health, products, and science policy at the American Chemistry Council. At the Uruguay meeting, the U.S. will be an observer, “just like ACC is, just like industry or an NGO,” he says, referring to nongovernmental organizations such as environmental groups. This will make it challenging for the U.S. to demonstrate its continued interest in providing global leadership on persistent organic pollutants, he says."

EDIT

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/83/i17/8317egov1.html