GENEVA (AFP/Reuters) — Nine chemicals, including headlice treatment lindane, have been added to a list of poisonous substances that are to be eliminated under the Stockholm Convention, the UN Environment Programme said yesterday.
More than 160 signatory states of the convention targeting hazardous substances that can kill or are seriously harmful to health, added the chemicals to the existing list of 12 after a week-long meeting in Geneva.
“The tremendous impact of these substances on human health and the environment has been acknowledged today by adding nine new chemicals to the Convention,” said UN Under-Secretary General Achim Steiner in a statement.
The nine chemicals that member states have now committed to eliminate are: Lindane — used in treatment of headlice and scabies, and in insecticides — Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane — a by-product of lindane — Beta hexachlorocyclohexane — a by-product of lindane — Hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether — used in flame retardants — Tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether — used in flame retardants — Chlordecone — used in agricultural pesticides — Hexabromobiphenyl — used in flame retardants — Pentachlorobenzene — used in fungicides, flame retardants — Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride — used in electric and electronic parts, photo imaging and textiles.
Donald Cooper, executive secretary of the Stockholm Convention, set out why the banned substances were exceptionally dangerous: They cross boundaries and are found everywhere, from the Tropics to polar regions; they persist for long periods in the atmosphere, soil and water, and take years to degrade; they accumulate in bodies; they accumulate in food chains.
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
