Prior Informed Consent |
John Unsworth 7th April 2010 The dramatic growth in chemical production and trade during the past three decades has raised concerns about the potential risks posed by hazardous chemicals and pesticides. Countries lacking adequate infrastructure to monitor the import and use of these chemicals are particularly vulnerable.
The Rotterdam Convention is a multilateral environmental agreement designed to promote shared responsibility and co-operative efforts among Parties in the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals. Its aim is to protect human health and the environment from potential harm and to contribute to environmentally sound use of hazardous chemicals by facilitating information exchange about their characteristics, providing a national decision-making process on their import and export and disseminating these decisions to Parties.
(a) "Chemical" means a substance whether by itself or in a mixture or preparation and whether manufactured or obtained from nature, but does not include any living organism. It consists of the following categories: pesticide (including severely hazardous pesticide formulations) and industrial;
(b) "Banned chemical" means a chemical all uses of which within one or more categories have been prohibited by final regulatory action, in order to protect human health or the environment. It includes a chemical that has been refused approval for first-time use or has been withdrawn by industry either from the domestic market or from further consideration in the domestic approval process and where there is clear evidence that such action has been taken in order to protect human health or the environment;
(c) "Severely restricted chemical" means a chemical virtually all use of which within one or more categories has been prohibited by final regulatory action in order to protect human health or the environment, but for which certain specific uses remain allowed. It includes a chemical that has, for virtually all use, been refused for approval or been withdrawn by industry either from the domestic market or from further consideration in the domestic approval process, and where there is clear evidence that such action has been taken in order to protect human health or the environment;
(d) "Severely hazardous pesticide formulation" means a chemical formulated for pesticidal use that produces severe health or environmental effects observable within a short period of time after single or multiple exposure, under conditions of use.
There are a total of 41 chemicals currently subject to the PIC procedure. Among these chemicals are 24 pesticides, 11 industrial chemicals and 6 severely hazardous pesticide formulations.
The pesticides subject to the PIC procedure are:
2,4,5-T, aldrin, binapacryl, captafol, chlordane, chlordimeform, chlorobenzilate, DDT, dieldrin, DNOC, dinoseb, EDB, ethylene dichloride, ethylene oxide, fluoroacetamide, HCH, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mercury, monocrotphos, parathion, pentachlorophenol and toxaphene.
Plus some formulations of:
Benomyl, carbofuran, thiram, monocrotophos, methamidophos, phosphamidon, methyl parathion and parathion.
Full details of the PIC procedure, the chemicals involved and their Decision Guidance Documents (DGDs) can be found on the PIC web site1,2.
References
1. The
2. Information on Chemicals Subject to the PIC Procedure
http://www.pic.int/en/Table7.htm
Last modified 7th April 2010
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Date added: 2010-05-08 00:43:14
Last Updated 2010-05-10 03:09:40 |
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