"The biennial Conference of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm conventions will consider banning the controversial pesticide and two other toxic compounds"
"International chemicals negotiators began a biennial meeting today in Geneva, Switzerland, to decide how the global community should deal with certain toxic chemicals, including pesticides and some used in plastics. The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm conventions—United Nations treaties related to chemicals management—will focus on potential global bans of three persistent organic pollutants (POPS)—chlorpyrifos, medium-chain chlorinated paraffins, and long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (LC-PFCAs), among other topics.
“Chemicals are an integral part of the modern world,” Jacqueline Alvarez, chief of the chemicals and health branch at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said in a statement. “But too often, exposure to harmful chemicals through food, consumer products, and the environment can have severe consequences for people and the planet.”
Although each treaty is a separate entity, together they try to mitigate chemical harm to human health and the environment. The Stockholm Convention governs POPs, while the Rotterdam Convention deals with chemicals management, and the Basel Convention guides rules on international import and export of hazardous waste, including chemicals waste.
In October 2024, the Stockholm Convention POP scientific review committee recommended that chlorpyrifos, medium-chain chlorinated paraffins, and long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (LC-PFCAs) no longer be used. Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate pesticide that’s already banned in some countries but allowed for critical uses on 11 food and feed crops in the US. Medium-chain chlorinated paraffins are mixtures of chlorinated alkanes between 14 and 17 atoms long and are used as flame retardants and plasticizers. The health effects of LC-PFCAs are much like those of their per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) cousins and include developmental effects, neurotoxicity, and altered thyroid function, according to the POP scientific review committee. LC-PFCAs are often generated in the manufacture and incineration of PFAS."
Leigh Krietsch Boerner reports for Chemical & Engineering News April 28, 2025.
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