The resulting agreement was widely welcomed, with governments, industry, and environmentalists all seeing their interests respected in the treaty. Compromises were achieved on the inclusion of the precautionary principle in the agreement and also about providing funds for technical assistance to developing countries.
POPs are highly stable chemical compounds that can last for years or decades before breaking down.
They have been linked to an array of adverse effects, including death, cancer and birth defects among humans and animals. They can travel thousands of miles from their original source and accumulate in fatty tissues of animals and humans. The European Union proposed that where there is scientific evidence of a threat to wildlife, human health or the environment, protective measures should be taken even without full scientific certainty. The US, together with Japan and Australia, argued that the draft treaty was already flexible enough and explicitly spelling out the precautionary approach would not add anything to the agreement. The conference finally settled on inclusion of precaution as a 'guiding principle'.