STATEMENT OF
FOR
ENVIRONMENT
BUREAU OF OCEANS
AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Hearing on Persistent
Organic Pollutants
COMMITTEE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
UNITED STATES
SENATE
Hearing on Persistent Organic Pollutants
STATEMENT OF DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY JEFFRY M.
BURNAM
MAY 9, 2002
I would like to thank the
Committee for inviting me here today to speak about three treaties which the
Administration supports. The three
treaties are: the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, or the
POPs Convention; the POPs Protocol to the Convention on Long-Range
Transboundary Air Pollution, or LRTAP POPs Protocol; and the Rotterdam
Convention on Prior Informed Consent.
The POPs Convention aims to protect human health and the environment
from twelve chemicals that are of particular concern in the environment because
they have four intrinsic characteristics: they are toxic, they have the
potential to bioaccumulate, they are stable and thus resistant to natural
breakdown, and they can be transported over long distances. The twelve chemicals include: Aldrin,
Hexachlorobenzene, Chlordane, Mirex, DDT, Toxaphene, Dieldrin, Polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs), Endrin, Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (dioxins),
heptachlor, and Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-furans (furans). The POPs Convention was submitted to the
Senate for advice and consent this week, and we look forward to working with
the Senate to help ensure early ratification.
POPs are capable of impacting human health and the
environment far away from where they are released, including across national
borders. POPs can have impacts in areas
all over the United States, but have been of particular concern in Alaska and
the Great Lakes Region. These chemicals
have been linked to adverse human health effects: these include cancer, damage
to the nervous system, reproductive disorders, and disruption of the immune
system. These twelve chemicals are
banned, severely restricted, or controlled in the United States, but are still
in use abroad in many places. Because
they are capable of long-range transport, a global treaty to address their
human health and environmental effects is needed and was sought by the United
States.
The POPs Convention addresses two types of
pollutants: intentionally produced POPs, such as DDT or PCBs; and
unintentionally produced POPs, such as dioxins and furans. For intentionally produced POPs, the
Convention prohibits their production and use, subject to certain exemptions
such as DDT use for disease vector control.
The Convention also restricts trade in such substances. For unintentionally produced POPs, the
Convention requires countries to develop national action plans to address these
releases, and to apply “Best Available Techniques” on specified key source
sectors to control them.
Under the POPS Convention, parties must take
appropriate measures to ensure that POPs wastes are managed in an environmentally
sound manner. Recognizing the needs of
developing countries in managing POPs, the Convention includes a flexible
system of financial and technical assistance by which developed countries will
help developing countries to meet their obligations under POPS. Finally, the POPs Convention creates a
science-based procedure that will govern the inclusion of additional chemicals
to the Convention, including defining the criteria that must be met by
chemicals proposed to be listed: namely that they are toxic, that they
bioaccumulate, that they are resistant to natural breakdown and that they can
be transported over long distances. In
the language of the Convention, this science-based procedure involves an
evaluation of “whether the chemical is likely, as a result of its long-range
environmental transport, to lead to significant adverse human health or
environmental effects, such that global action is warranted.” We do not yet know the manner in which the
risk management factors will be weighed when applied to additional chemicals.
The implementing legislation submitted by the
Administration also permits the United States to implement and become a party
to two additional agreements. The first
agreement -- closely related to the Stockholm Convention -- is the POPs
Protocol to the LRTAP Convention. LRTAP
POPS is a regional agreement negotiated under the auspices of the United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe, which includes the United States,
Canada, Europe, and the former Soviet Republics. The obligations in the LRTAP POPs Protocol are generally similar
in nature and scope to those in the Stockholm POPs Convention, but are different
in some ways. For example, LRTAP POPS
includes four chemicals not included in the Stockholm Convention.
The other agreement is the Rotterdam Convention on
Prior Informed Consent, which aims to
promote shared responsibility between exporting and importing countries in
protecting human health and the environment.
The Rotterdam Convention stipulates that export of certain especially
hazardous chemicals can only take place with the prior informed consent of the importing country. When exported, these chemicals must be
labeled and accompanied by safety data sheets that explain their potential
health and environment effects – these requirements are similar to those
currently in place in the United States.
The Rotterdam Convention significantly enhances the safe management of
chemicals by enabling countries, especially developing countries, to identify
risks and make informed decisions about the importation and use of highly
dangerous chemicals.
Together, these three Treaties address a number of chemical management problems faced by the international community. They enjoy broad support from the public, from environmental and industry organizations and from many members of Congress with whom we have been in contact. All of these agreements benefit the health and environmental well-being of U.S. citizens and of people all over the world.