Persistent organic pollutants POPs measurements

Persistent organic pollutants (POP) and heavy metals were in the focus of interest until the begiiming of the 1990s and intensive monitoring programs and ecotoxico-logical studies had been conducted. As a result, due to adoption of appropriate measures and elimination of the dominant pollution sources a drastic reduction of emission of these nonpolar hazardous compounds have been achieved and today these compounds are less relevant for the industrialized countries. 

One of the most known is the Stockholm Convention of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) which is signed by 151 countries [6]. The Stockholm Convention, which was adopted in 2001 and entered into force in year 2004, requires all parties to take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment. 

The EMEP monitoring network of precipitation chemistry consists of about a hundred stations distributed in almost 30 countries across Europe.1 All of these measure inorganic ions as well as pH and conductivity. Figure 17.1 illustrates the concentration levels of sulfate (corrected for sea salt), nitrate, and ammonium in 2006. The monitoring sites of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are less densely distributed 2 in 2006, there were around 50 for heavy metals such as lead... 

In 1996, the International Forum on Chemical Safety concluded that evidence was sufficient to call for international action to ban the use of 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPs). On the basis of this recommendation, UNEP convened a drafting committee in 1997 and, three years later, a final agreement was signed in Stockholm. This Stockholm Convention requires action plans and schedules for the elimination of the production and use of nine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, the severe restriction of the use of DDT, and best control measures for reducing the generation of dioxin and hexaclorobenzene as inadvertent contaminants of certain production and disposal processes. As with the Rotterdam Convention this agreement... 

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. 

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