UN: Potentially hazardous chemicals to fall under spotlight in Rome

Oct 22, 2008, 10:25 GMT

Rome - Representatives from over 120 governments are scheduled to meet in Rome next week to decide whether to add two pesticides and an industrial chemical to an international list of potentially hazardous substances, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Wednesday.

Under review are endosulfan, a pesticide used in cotton production, and tributyl tin compounds, used as antifouling paint for ship hulls, as well as the chrysotile asbestos chemical which is widely used by the building industry, FAO said.

Inclusion of substances in the so-called Prior Informed Consent (PIC) list does not amount to a global ban or a severe restriction of their use, but rather highlights the potential hazards they pose to human health and the environment.

PIC procedures, which fall under the international Rotterdam Convention treaty, gives co-signatories from developing countries the power to decide which of these chemicals they wish to receive and to exclude those they cannot manage safely, FAO said.

Moreover, countries that manufacture such products are responsible for ensuring that no exports leave their territory when an importing country has made the decision not to accept the chemical substances.

Chemicals are proposed for inclusion on the list based on the recommendation of a technical panel of experts. A key requirement is that at least two countries from two different regions of the world must have banned or severely restricted the particular chemical.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted a resolution in 2006 calling for the elimination of all uses of chrysotile asbestos.

The resolution reflected the World Health Organization's findings that the chemical is associated with many thousands of deaths worldwide from lung cancer and mesothelomia, a rare form of cancer directly linked to asbestos.

A number of countries, including some that continue to mine and export chrysotile asbestos, blocked its addition to the PIC list when the parties to the Convention last met in 2006.

'As a result the chemical will be reconsidered at next week's meeting in Rome and 'further opposition is anticipated,' FAO said in a statement.

Some 70,000 chemicals are currently available on the market, and around 1,500 new ones are introduced every year, FAO said.

'This can pose a major challenge to regulators charged with monitoring and managing these potentially dangerous substances. Many pesticides that have been banned or whose use has been severely restricted in industrialized countries are still marketed and used unsafely in developing countries,' it added.

The conference runs from October 27-31 FAO's Rome headquarters.