Endosulfan Considered For Watch List
28 October 2008 Together with the industrial chemical chrysotile asbestos, pesticides endosulfan and tributyl tin compounds will be the topic of discussion next week at the Fourth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention (COP 4) in Rome, Italy, when ministers and officials from over 120 governments will meet to decide whether to add these substances to a trade watch list already containing 39 hazardous substances. The chemicals included in the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) list are subject to the Prior Informed Consent Procedure under the Rotterdam Convention, an international treaty designed to ensure that hazardous chemicals do not endanger human health and the environment.
The inclusion of a chemical on the PIC list is not a global recommendation to ban it or severely restrict its use; the PIC procedure just gives developing countries the ability to decide whether to exclude chemicals they cannot manage safely. Exporters are responsible for ensuring that no exports leave their territory when an importing country has made the decision not to accept the chemicals.
A technical panel of experts recommends chemicals proposed for inclusion on the list. One key requirement is that two countries from two different regions of the world must have banned or severely restricted the particular chemical.
Get The Newsletter Today!
