Cleansing the Caribbean of Toxic Chemicals Takes Centre Stage at UN Environment Programme Meeting

Kingston, Jamaica, 27 January 2009 – A sub-regional workshop on toxic chemicals is now set to assist Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to maintain their pristine and chemical-free environments.

Support will be provided to Government and private sector delegates on the handling and disposal of toxic substances in a four-day training session. The workshop is designed to spotlight certain toxic chemicals that exist in daily life and to increase knowledge of the potentially harmful effects of these substances.

“We must continue exploring new ways of reducing the risks posed by these chemicals,” said Dr. Donald Cooper, Executive Secretary of the Stockholm Convention Secretariat on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).  Dr. Cooper continued, “POPs are chemicals that do not degrade easily; they can cause cancers and other long-term illnesses; they accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals and humans and travel across the environment to locations far from their release.”

Twenty representatives from 10 English-speaking Caribbean countries will review the status of chemicals such as PCBs. This chemical is used to absorb heat in electrical transformers, devices which are still used in many Caribbean countries today.

A total of 162 countries, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, St. Vincent, Dominica, Antigua, Bahamas, St. Lucia, Barbados and St. Kitts, have ratified the Stockholm Convention. These countries are obliged to eliminate the use of the 12 chemicals listed under this global multilateral environment agreement.

“Countries must raise awareness about this issue and establish the capacity to manage and dispose of these chemicals in an environmentally sound manner,” Dr. Cooper explained. “While various chemicals like DDT, dieldrin and toxaphene are no longer used in many Caribbean countries, nine new chemicals have been recommended for listing at the next meeting of the Convention in May this year,” he said.

The Honourable Daryl Vaz, Minister of State Responsible for Project Implementation and Service Delivery in the Office of the Prime Minister of Jamaica will open the workshop. The meeting will include a field visit to various sites believed to be still using POPs chemicals.

The meeting will take place at the Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica from 2 to 5 February 2009.
 

Further information is available at http://www.pops.int or by emailing ssc@pops.int.
Please Contact Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson, on Tel: +254 20 7623084 or E-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org
Fatoumata Keita Ouane, Senior Scientific Officer, Stockholm Convention Secretariat, Tel: +41 22 917 8161, E-mail: fouane@pops.int
SC News Release 2009/01