Environmentalists have abandoned their outright opposition to one of the world鈥檚 most virulent toxins 鈥� the pesticide DDT. The concession comes at the start of talks among 120 nations in Johannesburg aimed at agreeing a treaty to ban twelve of the most dangerous persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
During negotiations on the UN treaty last year, Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature demanded a global ban on DDT. It has been outlawed in most industrialised countries since being identified as a health hazard and wildlife killer in Rachel Carson鈥檚 seminal 1960s book, Silent Spring. But the greens have bowed to criticism from doctors, who say that the pesticide remains their best weapon against the mosquitoes that carry malaria. The disease kills more than a million people a year.
Last year, WWF鈥檚 Clifton Curtis said a total ban on DDT was necessary to 鈥渇ocus decision-takers on finding alternatives鈥�. But this year he says 鈥渆xemptions should be allowed for DDT鈥檚 continued use against malaria鈥�.
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鈥淒iluting clauses鈥�
Despite their climb-down on DDT, greens will join the European Union in opposing further concessions to manufacturers of the 鈥渄irty dozen鈥� chemicals named in the treaty. They oppose amendments by the US, Australia and Japan to dilute banning clauses with phrases such as 鈥渨here feasible and practicable鈥� and 鈥渨here realisable鈥�.
The 鈥渄irty dozen鈥� are the pesticides aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, mirex and toxaphene; the industrial chemicals PCBs and hexachlorobenzene; and combustion by-products dioxins and furans. In August, the UN Environment Programme launched a two-year study to assess whether other POPs should be added to the list.
The chemicals are believed to cause cancers, birth defects and genetic abnormalities in animals and humans. They can travel the world in the air and oceans.
Many POPs appear to condense out in the cold Arctic air, poisoning whales and seals that are in turn eaten by humans. Inuit women in northern Canada have five times the levels of PCBs in their breast milk as women in southern Canada.
Safe disposal
Provisions of the treaty include banning their manufacture and use and providing money for the safe disposal of old stocks, currently in rusting drums across the developing world. 鈥淭he global treaty is a necessary defence against these poisons,鈥� said UNEP director Klaus Toepfer.
In an effort to put pressure on the US delegation, Greenpeace activists last week blocked shipments of products from a polyvinyl factory in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which it says emits dioxins to the atmosphere.
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