First, developing countries are taking steps to adopt and strengthen national control regimes such as those existing in most developed countries. They are starting to gather information, make inventories and explore options for replacing remaining POPs uses with alternatives. Second, a series of global actions for strengthening and coordinating national efforts to reduce or eliminate releases of POPs are now underway. The Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities, adopted in November 1995 in Washington DC, includes specific provisions to address POPs. Days later, on 29 June 1998 in Montreal, negotiations began on a global agreement on 12 POPs.
POPs are chemicals or by-products that resist degradation in the environment.
They accumulate in the body fat of animals. Concentrations increase for each upward step in the food chain and can reach very high levels in, for example, seals and polar bears. Fatty fishes, such as salmon, herring and eel, have higher concentrations than do fish such as cod or haddock. One single meal may contain as much as 100 times the acceptable daily intake. Breast-fed infants may also easily exceed the acceptable intake.