Persistent organic pollutant regulations

Restrictions for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) required under the Stockholm Convention will also be implemented through the provisions of the REACH Regulation. 

Some recent developments and future trends in international regulation of chemical contaminants in food are discussed in section 12.5. It is attempted to foresee some issues that could be of interest and concern for food scientists and legislators dealing with contaminants in food in the early part of the new millennium. Certainly, persistent organic pollutants, many of which are chlorinated hydrocarbons, and some of which have been used in the past and in fact may still be used in parts of the world as pesticides, will be among those issues of justified concern. 

DOE, 2005. Environmental Quality (Dioxin and Furan) Regulations 2004. Department of Environment, Malaysia. Paper presented at the National Seminar on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Malaysia, PutraJaya, March 2005. 

No matter the source, flame retardants, especially the poly brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE s), are coming under scrutiny because they are persistent organic pollutants (POPs). They are appearing in human samples, most notably serum, adipose fat tissue and breast milk. PBDE s are also under investigation as potential endocrine mimickers or endocrine disrupters. As a result, PBDE s are the most highly regulated flame retardants. Their environmental fate will continue to be a topic of research for years to come. 

The POP Regulation 850/2004/EC [4-24] is based on the Stockholm Convention of 2001 intended to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POP). 

Recent actions taken by authorities in order to prevent further environmental contamination have led to several reductions in environmental emissions in the immediate past or near future. The voluntary initiative launched in 2006 by manufacturing industries to reduce emissions of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) to the environment by 95% until 2010 (2000 as baseline year) is one example [19]. Although involved western industries aim at stopping PFOA emissions from products or facilities by 2015 [19], one should be aware that the phase-out of emissions does not entail global production stop. Recently, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) has been classified as a persistent organic pollutant (POP) by the Stockholm convention [20]. Also a restrictive regulation on the use of PFOS in Europe has been accepted by the European Parliament in 2006 [21]. According to the directive industries which cannot operate without PFOS are bound to use the best available techniques (BAT) to reduce emissions to the environment [21] and... 

Proposals include the establishment of a European Chemicals Agency in the European Union and the amendment of earlier regulations on persistent organic pollutants. Companies manufacturing or importing more than one tonne per year of chemical substances are invited to assess the risks of the chemicals and to bear the cost of the testing programme. The burden of proof of safety for a chemical will be transferred from the public authorities to the manufactiners. 

National environmental laws often reflect two global treaties, the Rotterdam Convention and the Stockholm Convention. Brief summaries follow. The Rotterdam Convention establishes a prior informed consent (PIC) procedure for importing shipments of chemicals listed in Annex 111 of the convention and provides for information exchange between participating countries. Adopted in September 1998, it entered into force February 2004 [1]. The 2001 Stockholm Convention requires parties to the treaty to take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) into the environment [2]. As described in this chapter, regulations on persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic substances address POPs. Industry value in 1970 dollars adjusted for inflation using the US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator at http //www.bls.gov/data/inflation calcula-tor.htm, equivalent to 1.01 trillion in 2010. 

Within the EU, pentachlorobenzene and HCB are classified as priority hazardous substances imder regulations that require measmes to be taken to eliminate their pollution of surface waters in Emope. They are also listed as persistent organic pollutants for global restriction under the Stockholm Convention, and in line with this they are prohibited or scheduled for reduction and eventual elimination in Europe. 

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