Home Page Webmail neways Over 10 comments listed. Printing out index only. The new treaty, one of many important initiatives growing out of the 1992 Earth Summit, represents the most ambitious effort by the global community, to date, to rein in and ultimately halt the proliferation of toxic chemicals. The United Nations Environment Programme initiated the treaty negotiations in June 1998 to address persistent organic pollutants or POPs - a class of toxic chemicals that has contaminated every region of the world. Exposure to POPs is associated with problems such as cancer, reproductive abnormalities, and neurological disorders in whales, seals, eagles, polar bears, and many other species including humans.
POPs accumulate in body fat and are passed from mother to fetus in the womb.
After the Diplomatic Signing Ceremony in Stockholm, the treaty will be open for ratification. The Stockholm POPs Convention requires ratification by 50 governments before it can enter into force. WWF is urging governments to expeditiously ratify the treaty so it can enter into force before the end of 2002. What we need to do is see whether each of us hails from any of these 5o countries and then start putting pressure, on our respective country to sign the treaty. Btw, this could be another biggie signoff for Bush.