Environmental Engineering Reference
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by AMAP. Just two months later, in May 1995, the Governing Council of UNEP invited
the Inter-Organization Programme on the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC), the
International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) and the Intergovernmental Forum on
Chemical Safety (IFCS) to conduct an assessment on 12 specified POPs and to make re-
commendations to the UNEP Governing Council and to the World Health Assembly on
the need for appropriate action. An ad hoc working group established to do the work was
chaired by John Buccini from Environment Canada.
What this meant was that we were now on track for a global agreement on POPs.
Nevertheless, I was quite worried about the prospects for the ad hoc working group. In
May 1994, at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, Canada had
offered to host an international experts meeting to discuss the transboundary environmental
and human health issues associated with POPs. Harvey Lerer, Hajo Versteeg (both working
with Environment Canada) and I were tasked with organising the meeting. It took place
in June 1995 in Vancouver as a joint initiative with the Philippines government. Siu-Ling
HanfromourNCP made apresentation describing the highbodyburdensofPOPsamongst
Inuit people in Arctic Canada who live far from any known sources of POPs. It resonated
around the conference room. A joint statement from the meeting concluded:
There is enough scientific information on the adverse human health and
environmental impacts of POPs to warrant coherent action at the national,
regional, and international level.
However,thestatementthenwentontorecordtherangeofopinionsonwhatactionsshould
be taken. These spanned production bans through the concept of virtual elimination from
the environment to a range of management options still allowing for use. Governments and
industry favoured the latter. This hesitance was common regardless of any country's level
of economic development. Most of the POPs then known to be of concern were already
either banned or strictly controlled in countries with developed economies and their pat-
ents had expired, but some had subsidiaries with manufacturing capacities elsewhere. To
implement possible controls, countries with developing economies could face the need to
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